


Appendage to a Love Story

by BellaOnCoffeeCups



Category: Rookie Blue
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-07
Updated: 2017-04-19
Packaged: 2018-09-30 09:01:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 53,951
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10159484
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BellaOnCoffeeCups/pseuds/BellaOnCoffeeCups
Summary: Filling in what could have happened in the Gail/Holly story of season five off screen. Imagine they had more than about 10 minutes of screen time, it may have looked something like this. May continue the story post season-five, if I get to that point. May later increase to M rating. (Originally uploaded elsewhere)





	1. Chapter 1

26.02.2017 update: I have gone through and edited this story a bit, mostly just improving the writing (cos OOOOH BOY was it clunky and awkward in places), I haven't changed any plot points. The first and easiest edits I made were to get 3 rid of my babbling away at the beginning of each chapter, because who cares really about that, but I will give a little foreword here; If you've read this story before, I hope you enjoy rereading this time as much as you did the first. If you're new to it, I hope you find that you get at least some enjoyment out of it.

If you are new to this fic, or you want a reminder, the premise is that it fills in the gaps between the episodes, (starting with the finale of season 4) to explore the Golly we never got to see so much on screen. I have half a plan for where I'm going with it (ish), but I don't want to say at this point where it will finish, because it ended up being quite a slow moving story and there is every chance if I were to write it up until the season finale of season 5, let alone season 6, it would get to 100+ chapters and I would only finish writing it on my deathbed (which a handy website called just told me will be in 54 years). But I hope you enjoy the journey, wherever it may lead. And thank you in advance to you, the one person still reading this garbage.

 

I.

God, this is horrible. Gail slips into the hospital waiting room. Her skin is still hot and her cheeks are damp and her eyes are red even though she's spent the past ten minutes staring into the mirror willing them to return to a somewhat normal colour. Pushing her phone into her pocket, she sidles up to where Steve is standing alone, hands in his pockets, looking slightly awkwardly at the officers around him.

"Hey, are you okay?" He reaches out an arm towards her as she approaches him. "Do you want a kleenex?"

Gail shakes her head as she wipes her eyes with the back of her hand. "I'm fine." She mutters.

"Where did you go?"

"Washroom. I had to call someone, she's... uh, she's on her way over." She sniffs and blinks, trying to compose her face, although she is fairly certain it is in no way working.

Steve's expression changes from concern to slight confusion, his forehead creasing ever so slightly as his eyebrows furrow. "Who?"

"It's uh... Holly, you... saw her earlier. She came to see me at the precinct, when you were giving me that pep talk about not getting killed."

"She's a… friend of yours?" He probes, not that Gail doesn't notice that he's slightly taking advantage of her emotional instability to obtain some actual information about her usually guarded life.

"I... don't know. We were friends, but I think, maybe... maybe I ruined that. I don't know." She can feel the heat in her eyes and blinks again, more ferociously this time, to stop any tears from emerging.

The confusion doesn't leave Steve's face but he gives his sister a weak, uncomfortable and unnerved-looking smile. "Well, she's coming here, right, so she can't completely hate you?"

"I don't know. She's so nice she'd probably come anyway. But I care about her, a lot. Like, really, really care about her." Her voice tails off as she speaks and she can see Steve trying to process her words out of the corner of her eye as she looks awkwardly down at the ground.

But then she hears the rustling of a coat and the steps of someone running towards them, and when she looks up and recognises the face in front of her, Gail can do nothing to stop herself from throwing her arms around the neck of the woman stood before her. She holds on longer than she has ever consciously held onto another person in her life, so overwhelmed with relief that Holly is here, that she barely hears her speaking.

"I'm really glad that you're here." She murmurs, before finally breaking their embrace, taking a moment to look properly at Holly's worried face before turning back to her brother.

"Steve, this is Holly, Chris this is Holly." She says, making the probably slightly unnecessary introductions to the men who both know full well who the woman in front of her is, in an attempt to show Holly that she's not actually trying to hide her from her friends, without actually having to say 'This is the girl I think I might be falling for and spent a good five minutes kissing in the conference room yesterday.' At least, not while she's still not convinced that Holly would even accept her into her life like that now.

"Hey, how's it going?" The corner of Steve's lips turn up slightly and he nods warmly, Gail can see a slight understanding dawn in his eyes, but turns back to the gentle, bespectacled, dark eyes of the woman next to her, uncomfortable under Steve's questioning gaze.

The brief but sincere smile that appears on the other woman's face shows her that she appreciates the gesture of the introduction. Gail's tongue darts out to moisten her lips, preparing them to say something she hasn't yet thought of.

"Do you um, want to...?" Gail gestures over to the seats, and Holly nods, smiling in a manner Gail perceives as nervous; her bottom lip caught between her teeth, and her hands moving to push her glasses up her nose even though she'd only done that less than a minute previously, and the spectacles couldn't actually be any closer to her eyes already.

As they walk over towards the seats, Gail looks back at her brother, flashing him the smallest of smiles and just noticing him starting to talk to Chris before she turns back to look where she is going.

Holly stands next to the seats, still looking slightly nervous, and waits for Gail to lower herself tentatively down into a chair before taking the seat next to her.

Gail can feel dark eyes look up and down her body; she is sat tensely on the edge of her seat, looking anxiously off into the distance. Holly relaxes back slightly into her own seat, but the blonde is unable to do the same.

"Hey," Holly speaks up, softly, after a few minutes of sitting in silence. "Are you okay? I mean, is there anything I can get you?"

Gail turns to look at her friend, her whole body shifting slightly to face her. She notices that nervous expression still has not left Holly's face, and her brow furrows slightly in response.

She coughs slightly, quietly, before she speaks. "No, it's okay. I'm just happy you're here."

"Of course I'm here."

"You look worried... about something?"

Holly smiles at the pale woman. "I'm worried about you, Gail. I don't like seeing you like this. And I'm really glad you're alive and everything, because I've been terrified all day that you might not be, but I hate that you look so distressed."

"You're not... angry about what happened earlier?"

Holly frowns slightly, her nose wrinkling and mouth falling slightly open, although no words come out.

Gail sighs slightly and elaborates "At the precinct, you know; when I, you know, blew you off." She winces and looks away as she says it, not really wishing to acknowledge her less than exemplar behaviour out loud.

Holly relaxes and leans forward, placing a hand tentatively on Gail's thigh "Gail." She says in her absolute warmest voice, which Gail silently notes is quite an achievement, as she considers Holly's voice on any regular day to be the softest and most reassuring she has ever encountered.

Gail turns her head up to look into the dark eyes that are surveying her.

"That wasn't your fault, I shouldn't have come and intruded on you like that, it was awful timing on my part. And I have this tendency to just jump head first into things and I never really considered that maybe for you, the middle of your workplace, surrounded by everyone you know probably wouldn't have been the first place you'd want to see me after the whole interrogation room thing..."

"Holly." Gail tries to interrupt.

"... and obviously when we were in the interrogation room, emotions were running kind of high so I could understand if maybe you think it was a mistake, so I don't want to pressure you into anything and I hate that by turning up at the station you may have felt like I was asking you for something you didn't want to give..."

"Holly." Gail coughs to catch the brunette's attention when it becomes clear repeating her name isn't going to do the trick.

"Hm?" Holly starts to retract her hand from Gail's leg but has barely left the fabric of the officer's trousers before Gail's hand is on top of hers, intertwining her fingers between the pathologist's fingers, over her knuckles, returning her hand to where it had been resting on Gail's thigh.

"I don't think it was a mistake. And part of the reason I was upset was because I thought I'd blown... whatever this is, already. I thought you were going to tell me we couldn't be friends anymore, or whatever we are."

Holly's mouth curls up into her trademark half smile. "You haven't blown anything. I mean, we should probably talk... not right now, but at some point. But I'm here, now, in whatever way you want me to be."

Gail gives an actual genuine smile for the first time since she arrived at the hospital. "Do I look all blotchy and horrible?"

Holly bites the corner of her lip. "Your, uh... your eyes are a bit red, yes."

Gail scrunches her face up in disgust, the idea that almost everyone she knows and cares about has seen her looking like this making her feel so uncomfortable she wants to curl up in a ball and never see any of them ever again. Except for Holly.

"I have a compact if you want to have a look?" Holly suggests.

"No, it's okay. Probably better if I don't know, I don't exactly have any makeup or anything on me to fix it." Gail sighs. She would love more than anything to get up and leave, get away from the inquisitive eyes she can feel occasionally glancing over and she and Holly and their interlocked hands. But even she, the ice queen of 15 Division, can't bring herself to abandon everyone when they don't know what is going to happen to Chloe and Sam and Oliver... oh Oliver.

Her eyes brim with tears at the thought of her partner, locked up by this police-hunting maniac, taken when she should have been around to back him up. Granted she wasn't expected to be with him at that exact point, but he was still her partner. At least he he seems like he is going to be fine; he is alive and considering the circumstances, relatively well. But Sam, and Chloe. Maybe not so fine. And even though Chloe is possibly the most annoying person she's ever met, and she's never held anything other than a slight distant admiration for Sam, a couple of tears escape her eyes and roll down her cheeks.

"Hey." A soft voice beside her says, and Gail knows that her tears have not gone unnoticed. She can feel Holly's thumb rubbing her leg, drawing circles on her thigh.

Part of her longs for the comfort of Holly's hand on her cheek, wiping away her tears; or for her arms to wrap around her so she can bury her face in the other woman's neck; but she knows Holly would never do such a thing until she knew Gail was comfortable with it. And to be honest, she probably wouldn't be. Comfortable with it, that is. Not while all her colleagues are stood so close, probably revelling in seeing her in a less than composed state for once.

She wipes her own eyes with the back of her hand instead, but she just can't work out how to stop the tears from falling. Because she doesn't cry; she doesn't let emotions take her like this. But something that has happened in the past few days, be it realising that the feelings she held for Holly were no more than a simple harmless crush, or the intense passion of the short minutes they had spent together in that interrogation room, or the knowledge that Chloe, a person she had said only one vaguely nice thing in the entire time they had known each other, could just die at any moment, or the guilt she felt at knowing she had hurt Holly when she gave her the cold shoulder at the precinct, or the idea that Oliver may have died and she hadn't been there to do anything about it, or the devastation on Andy's face now Sam could be dying too; one of those things, or all of them, had destroyed the cold, emotionless walls she has so carefully built up, and now they are coming cascading down around her. And she can't just sit there and hold the person she wants to hold the most in the world, and sob into her shoulder until she has no tears left inside of her, because it is so new, and beautiful, and delicate, and this is Gail; she is the bull in the metaphorical relationship china shop, and she doesn't want to smash everything yet.

It's so new. Gail looks up and looks around through her silent tears and is surprised to see that they have garnered very little attention. She sees Chris looking at them over her brother's shoulder as the two stand in conversation, but the tears are making him blurry and she can't tell if his look is one of surprise at her clutching the hand of the woman next to her, or concern at the tears still slowly running down her face. She blinks, trying to rid the stinging water that has pooled in her eyes, but by the time Chris has come back into focus, his attention has returned to her brother.

Looking further around the waiting room she notices that Nick, too, is gazing in their direction, leaning forwards in his seat with his hands under his chin. But his stare seems unfocussed and Andy is sitting uncomfortably next to him and it doesn't take a genius to work out what is going on there, so Gail doubts that there is much room in her ex boyfriend's thoughts for any opinion on whose hand she is holding.

As she scans the rest of the room Gail catches Traci's eye, and after her friend's eyes drop ever so momentarily to the hands on her leg, she gives a small encouraging smile, then returns to the conversation she was having previously.

But this encouragement only causes a creeping sense of guilt to emerge in the pit of Gail's stomach. Of course no-one cares that Holly is a woman. And Gail holding her hand is such a small, insignificant detail in the life of anyone other than Gail herself. Especially when there is all this tragedy and hurt going on around them.

And she wants to do more, to show Holly that she cares, but she can't think of any gesture that wouldn't be too bold. People may not care that there is something happening between them, but there are certain... conventions when it comes to the interactions between two people who have just come together, particularly in open, emotionally charged, public places like hospital waiting rooms. And Gail has certainly never been one for obvious public displays of affection anyway.

She removes her fingers from between Holly's, which, to be honest was becoming slightly uncomfortable anyway; hands are meant to be held palm to palm, not palm to knuckle. She runs her hand up Holly's arm towards her elbow, and then around to the inside of her arm, and down towards the inside of her hand, lifting it from its position on Gail's leg. She squeezes it, and Holly looks deeply into Gail's eyes, returning the squeeze. Gail gets lost absorbing every detail of Holly's face as their hands fall back down, this time to the seat, where Gail once again finds herself placing her hand over the top of the brunette's, this time wrapping the ends of her fingers around the edge of the hand underneath, anchoring them to the seats as Gail tears herself from the darkness of Holly's eyes and looks vacantly off into the distance.

II.

They haven't moved by the time the doctor comes out to speak to Frank. Instinct makes them rise to their feet, their hands falling apart, preparing for any bit of news that may be about to come their way, but when Gail realises that very little has changed, she falls back into her seat, this time slumping against its back instead of sitting nervously on the edge.

Holly joins her, and has only returned to her seated position for a brief moment when Gail's head falls down onto her shoulder. Gail's eyes flutter shut, her chest rising and falling with her slow breathing. When Holly's hand reaches across to rest on her leg again, the police officer grasps it with both of her own and holds it in her lap, slowly stroking it with one of her thumbs.

"Is she asleep?" Traci's voice rouses Gail, and although she can tell she must have drifted off, it feels like it was barely a moment since she slipped out of consciousness.

"Yes, I think so." Holly replies, as Gail's face scrunches and turns to rub itself into Holly's shoulder.

"She has a name." Gail murmurs, quiet but sharply. She stretches her fingers, releasing Holly's hand from her grasp and finally turns to look up at the couple in front of them, squinting at the light.

Steve looks between the two of them. "Frank's asked us to head back to the station, we can drop you two home on the way if you want? You don't need to be back on duty until the morning."

"It's okay, I brought my car, but thanks." Holly smiles up at him, grateful for the offer.

Steve turns to his sister. "Are you, um, going back with Doctor Stewart?" He asks slowly.

Gail turns to look at Holly, aware that this is not a question they had broached, and that the answer she wants to give may potentially be seen as coming loaded with expectations and implications. "I probably need to go dump my uniform at the station." She eventually says, when Holly doesn't seem to give her a sign as how to answer.

Holly nods with a smile. They both stand and follow Steve and Traci out into the car park.

When they reach Steve's car, both women slow down and look at each other hesitantly, waiting for Traci and Steve to get into the car and fall out of ear shot.

"You know, once you're done at the station you can come around to mine, if you don't want to be alone or something. I can cook up something to eat, you must be starving. We can watch a film, or you can just go to sleep, whatever you want." Holly is looking down at her feet as she speaks, but looks up as she finishes, a nervousness in her eyes.

Gail smiles slightly and takes one of Holly's hands in her own. "I would like that. I'll get Steve to drop me off."

"Will he mind?"

"He's my brother; he'll do it, or I'll threaten to tell Mum he's got a new girlfriend." She smirks slightly, and Holly laughs.

"Okay, well, I'll see you soon then?"

"Yeah. Thank you, for all of this." Gail squeezes Holly's hand and flashes a look at the car before leaning in and placing a quick but gentle peck just to the right of Holly's mouth, before letting go and darting in through one of the back doors of her brother's four by four.

As they pull out of the car park, Gail watches Holly smile and walk to her own car. She looks down at her own fidgeting hands, unable to ignore the pounding of her heart in her ears, but equally unable to stop a wide grin creeping across her face. She closes her eyes and sighs. What a night.

III.

It does not take Gail long to change in the empty locker room, but she does take a few moments to reapply the makeup that her tearshad washed away and hide the few remaining signs of her earlier breakdown. Locking her things away, only taking her phone out with her, securely in her jacket pocket, she glances in the mirror on her way out, adjusting her scarf slightly as she does so.

When she leaves the locker room, Steve is leaning against the wall on the opposite side of the hallway, looking at his phone.

"You ready?" He asks, looking up at her and pushing himself off the wall.

She nods and follows his lead as he starts walking towards the car park.

"So am I dropping you off at the frat house?" He asks as they climb into the car.

Gail bites her lip slightly and doesn't turn to look at him as she speaks. "I was actually hoping you'd be able to take me to Holly's. She doesn't live very far."

He nods slowly as he turns the key in the engine. "Okay. Which direction."

She points right down the road as they pull up to the car park exit, and he turns and drives down the road.

Apart from Gail's occasional directions, they don't speak as they drive, the quiet music coming from the radio and Steve's light drumming along on the steering wheel the only noises between Gail's brief words.

Gail finds her hands fidgeting in her lap as they draw nearer, and she notices Steve glance over at her.

"Have you been here before?" He asks eventually as they turn onto Holly's road.

Gail turns to give her brother a slightly open mouthed, scrunched up, 'duh' look. "I just directed you here off the top of my head, what do you think?"

Steve presses his lips together for a moment. "Right, of course."

"It wasn't like you're thinking. Just watching TV and stuff, and I stayed the night when I burnt my hand at that grow-op." She says, turning back to carry on looking out the window.

"It's this one". Gail indicates to a house just in front of them, and Steve pulls the car up to the side of the road.

He ducks down to look up at the building through the windscreen. "Nice house."

"Yeah, well that can happen when your parents let you be something other than a cop."

Steve glances over at his sister. "Well, you've done well. Nice one."

Gail turns sharply to look her brother in the eye, a slightly scathing look in her eye. "I don't like her because of her paycheck."

"I know, I didn't mean..."

"I should get inside." Gail starts to open the car door and undo her seatbelt.

"Gail."

She turns slowly to look at him once again. "What?"

"I'm happy for you, for finding someone, for moving on from Nick."

"Whatever, it's all new; don't get your hopes up for Gail's great romantic happy ending yet." She pushes the door fully open and steps out of the car, turning to duck her head to look at her brother before she shuts it again. "Thanks for the lift."

She turns to walk up the pathway to Holly's house, pulling her phone out of her pocket on her way, finding one message from five minutes ago sitting on her home screen.

Holly: Door's unlocked, let yourself in

She slips the device back into her pocket and hears Steve's car pull away as she reaches the front door, turning the door knob and pushing it open into the home.


	2. Chapter 2

I.

Holly is cleaning up in her kitchen when she hears a car pull up in front of her house. She looks out of the window over her front yard to see a familiar figure clambering out of the passenger seat. She turns to put some of her newly cleaned plates in her cupboard, and when she turns back to look out of the window again, Gail is walking up the front path, looking at her phone, and Steve is pulling away in his dark SUV. Returning to polishing her kitchenware, Holly looks up again only moments later when she hears the front door being pushed open.

She can tell before she's even properly laid eyes on the police officer, just from the way Holly can hear her coming through the door, that the Gail who has entered her home this evening is once again a violent storm of bottled up emotions on the brink of explosion. There is no hesitancy in the way she opens the front door and no particular care in the manner in which she closes it again. This is not the crumbling, fragile woman of an hour ago. Both are highly emotional and dangerously volatile; but in the hospital, all the defences Gail had built up had faded into nothing, she had made it clear that she needed someone to hold her and help her make it through the hours. Now, those walls have returned, higher than Holly has ever seen them, and it is clear that this Gail is not searching for someone's shoulder to cry on.

And whilst Holly knows that suppressing emotions of this intensity does nothing to actually make you feel better, and certainly does not make them go away, she also knows Gail. She knows that Gail certainly does not appreciate others trying to worm their way, uninvited, in to join her in the wasp's nest she buries herself in and force her into the head on confrontation with the feelings she so desperately avoids.

So when Gail comes charging into her kitchen with clearly no intention of stopping to dissect her feelings with Holly, the brunette knows she has to attempt to find a way of halting the one woman war path without making Gail feel Holly is pressuring her into opening up to her.

"Hey… You hungry?" She tries, knowing that on most days, food would be one of the vices of Gail's that may be able to distract her from the task of ensuring that her defences were steadfast and unyielding.

Gail, however, is opening and closing Holly's cupboard doors, in a desperate search for something Holly thinks she can guess the identity of.

"Nope, I only want alcohol."

Yep, she was right. Unfortunately. The other of Gail's vices. The one far more likely to facilitate a potentially dangerous eruption of emotions, an eruption Holly is slightly fearful of witnessing.

"Uh, um, it's up there." Holly knows that attempting to stand between Gail and her liquor cupboard would be one of the more futile tasks she attempts in her life. "But why don't you eat something first?" She knows before she says it that the chances of that succeeding in slowing Gail down are virtually nil, but she can't not try.

"Yeah okay, if it's got alcohol in it." Gail is unable to look Holly directly in the eye yet; the brunette notices the lack of eye contact and her heart sinks slightly. It doesn't bother her that Gail marches around her kitchen with the confidence of someone who owns it, as it would some people. Because that's just Gail, and Holly holds great affection for the way Gail pays no heed to those sorts of societal norms. But that she won't look at her after exposing so many of her vulnerabilities such a short time ago; that stings a little.

"You okay?" Holly tries, giving up on trying to distract her, but trying not to sound too probing.

"I'm fine, not like I'm the one who got shot." The bite to Gail's tone doesn't surprise Holly in the least, but she finds herself compelled to keep trying to get Gail to open up even though she knows the likely outcome is that the blonde is just going to push her away.

"Maybe we shouldn't have left the hospital."

"Holly, there are thirty other cops waiting around, there's really no point me being there. Nobody's looking for my shoulder to cry on." Gail finally makes eye contact with the other woman, but there is no warmth in her eyes.

It breaks Holly's heart that Gail believes nobody cares about her. She hates that Gail feels alone and isolated and disliked, when there is so much about her to adore. "Gail…" she tries, wanting to wrap her up in her arms and make her feel loved, but it doesn't take anywhere near Holly's level of intelligence to know quite how much of a bad idea that would be right now.

"You know what though? We could go back as the big… gay distraction. Yeah, let's… let's give people something to talk about. I mean, now that I've come out to my brother that juicy bit of news is just gonna… spread like herpes." Gail almost looks gleeful as she says it, and Holly's heart feels heavy. She pours herself another glass and grabs the bottle, carrying both upstairs to where she can deal with her emotions in the way she always does; alone, and with hard liquor. "There's no going back now, girlfriend. There ain't no going back." She says without looking back as she marches up the stairs, stepping slightly more heavily than is probably entirely necessary.

Holly watches her leave, letting out a long, slow, sigh as she does so. But she knew, from the day she met her, that Gail is a package deal, and the tendency to become this closed off and belligerent when she feels this vulnerable is part of that package. She can do little but hope that Gail will learn that she can open up to her, that she can trust her and know that Holly will think no less of her for doing so, even if she won't with anyone else.

And to Gail's credit this is the first time she has lashed out at Holly; she knows, from what Gail has told her, and from what she's overheard from other officers at the morgue, that it is usually a fairly regular occurrence. And this has been a far more draining day than most.

She forces herself to stop concentrating on justifying Gail's impertinence to herself, and get something to eat. Gail may be happy surviving on Bourbon for the night, but Holly needs actual sustenance. She'll have a bowl of cereal and a mug of hot chocolate, and then, if she hasn't reappeared in ten minutes, she'll search out the antagonistic blonde roaming her second floor.

II.

It's actually fifteen minutes before Holly decides to head upstairs, concerned that if she forces her way into Gail's personal space before she's had the time to calm down a little, she will lash out again. As she climbs the stairs she can hear music, which as she walks down her hallway she identifies as coming from her bathroom.

She stops and knocks on the door. "Gail? How much longer are you going to be in there?" She calls, but there is no reply. "Hey. Please confirm existence." She tries again, starting to worry slightly about what may be happening on the other side of the door. She was at least expecting Gail to shout something biting back at her, not to be received by complete silence.

"I'm coming in." She calls again, before cautiously pushing the door open. She pokes her head around the piece of wood separating her from the blonde, and she certainly could not say that the sight before her is one she expected. Gail is leaning over her sink; her ponytail, severed from the rest of her hair by Holly's scissors, in her right hand, while the scissors lay next to her left.

"Who cares right? It's only hair." Gail says, all the harshness that was in her voice a quarter of an hour ago evaporated.

This was it, this was the emotional eruption Holly had been wary of. It was more mellow, but no less drastic, than the hysterical tantrum she was expecting.

Holly takes the reduction in the combative tone of Gail's voice as an indication that the walls that were earlier keeping Holly out have crumbled again, and that she can enter the room, turning the music down as she does so.

"So, this is happening?" She says, aware that she needs to speak but not entirely sure how exactly to deal with this unfolding breakdown.

"Yeah," Gail replies as if it's the most normal thing in the world. "I saw your scissors and I just thought oh, 'yaaay', there's something I can just… rewind." Gail steps backwards and sits herself on the floor, leaning back against Holly's dresser, severed ponytail in hand. She looks up at Holly. "You see this inch, this inch is from the academy. This inch is from the first six months on the job. This inch is from when I was dating Chris. That part's when Jerry died. And then you see these last few inches. That's round two with Nicholas." She explains, waving the symbol of all that has caused her hurt and pain in the past few years out in front of her as she speaks. She reaches again for the bourbon bottle and taking a swig as Holly approaches her.

"Okay, but honey…" the brunette starts to say as she lowers herself down to take a seat.

"No, look, look, look," Gail interjects. "There's literally no bad inches 'cause I'm just gonna go back to the beginning and I'm rewinding everything and I…" She lifts her hands up to touch her hair, and the reality of what she has done seems to dawn on her. She emits a sound that Holly can't work out is more a sob or a laugh. "Oh my God, what I do? What I do?"

She raises her hand to her mouth to cover what is now most definitely the start of a sob as Holly speaks.

"You cut off all your hair."

Gail emerges from behind the hands she was using to hide her whimpers so that she can speak. "I'm freaking out a little bit aren't I?"

Holly nods, unable to hide the slight bemusement at the current situation. "Yeah." She sees Gail nodding slightly too. "But that's okay."

Gail looks up at her incredulously. "I have to go to work in the morning, Holly. Look at me."

"The hair situation isn't ideal." Holly agrees, trying to give her an encouraging smile. "But this has been such an intense day for you. That stress was going to manifest itself somehow. I went through medical school, I saw more dramatic reactions to stress than this every year at exam time. Sometimes you just need to do something crazy to release it. And I might be able to fix the hair, if you'll let me?"

Gail nods slowly. "You'd do that?"

Holly smiles and ducks to look into Gail's eyes. "Of course. Get in the tub, I'll get the scissors."

III.

Gail climbs over the edge of the bath and sits herself down in the middle, whilst Holly positions herself on the edge, and starts work on shaping the brutal haircut into some sort of style. They speak only for Holly to confirm that Gail is fine with the direction Holly is taking her haircut in, the silence otherwise allowing Holly to concentrate on doing a respectable job with the scissors, and Gail to mull over the events of the past few hours.

It overwhelms Gail to look up at Holly and feel herself overcome with affection for the brunette before her. More affection than she ever anticipated. And certainly more than she would admit to out loud. But that overwhelming feeling becomes more bearable to her with each thing Holly does for her. By turning up to the hospital, letting her raid her cupboards for alcohol without complaint, and now by sitting here sorting out the mess she had made of her hair, Holly is actually, somehow, successfully showing Gail that she is someone she could, for the first time in her life, really, really rely on. She is opening Gail up to the idea of letting someone into her life, and she doesn't completely hate it.

But as she'd stood in front of that mirror with Holly's pair of scissors in her hand, she'd known that as much as she was slowly accepting the depth of her feelings for the brunette, it didn't either make her entirely comfortable. These feelings so new, and intense, and worryingly dependent on another human soul. A human soul so close to perfection as it was possible to get that it made her feel woefully inadequate. With her history of screwing up and hurting people, she was an incredibly poor example of a person who should be in an intimate relationship with someone. History had proven that one to be true.

But her relationship with the universe wasn't a one way thing. She'd given the world shit, but the world had delivered her equal amounts of shit in return. Perick, that fucking undercover assignment Nick and McNally went on, that first year on the job when all the rookies but Chris looked at her like her being there was causing them some major offense, her mother, Chris dumping her solely for letting someone else in under her defences, this whole Ford thing. She just wanted to forget it all, be someone new, someone better. And that was when the hair came off. She thinks. She was riding quite the emotional high at the time, so who knows what ideas were being fed into her mind by those hormones.

And the alcohol. That probably didn't help either.

Holly was right, there had been something cathartic about slicing off a large chunk of her hair, like she was releasing a weight of negative energy she had pent up inside her; lingering anger at the world and the way it had treated her in the past few years.

She is still trying to negotiate the complex maze that is her emotional state as Holly is finishing up on her hair. And all she's really found is that she really, really wants to let Holly know just how much she cares about her. To make sure she is completely aware that the fact that she is a woman doesn't bother her, and that she just wants to be with her. She's always going to be a mess, but she wants to be Holly's mess. But of course, because she is such a mess, actually conveying that is something Gail considers quite problematic. The idea of exposing so much of herself, even to Holly, terrifies her. She already knows Holly could destroy her.

Or even worse, she could hurt Holly. She knows she has already. The desperately anguished look on her face when she'd compared the news of their relationship to a venereal disease, and even earlier when she straight up rejected her before heading out to find Ford; that was proof that Gail was incapable of having anyone in her life who she couldn't cause hurt to when she was feeling lost or angry. And it had been hurtful; it wasn't just the regular snark she dished out on a daily basis to keep herself amused; Holly gave as good as she got when it came to that, it was one of the many things Gail liked about her. She had been explicitly harsh to her in a way that screamed 'I really don't want to be around you right now'. And she hated herself for it. But here Holly was, nonetheless, fixing her hair like no hurtful words had ever been said. No-one else would do that for her. But Gail knows, even when she tries, she is incapable of preventing herself lashing out at the people she cares most about when she's hurting. She has never been able to prevent herself from being so impetuous, and she resents herself for it.

Because this, this impudence… this is normal to her, it's comfortable. Tearing up in front of her colleagues whilst someone strokes her hand, exposing herself in front of almost everyone she knows; that perturbs her, looking back on it makes her feel anxious and self-conscious. At the time, when she was ravaging her friend's kitchen in search of liquor, she'd been almost proud of the fact that in the heat of the moment Holly's slightly crestfallen expression wasn't making her stop or feel guilty. But now, with the time that has passed and the hair that has been lost since she stormed up Holly's stairs without a second thought, she feels awful. She hates that she can do that, that she knows she can't stop herself from being a cold-hearted bitch.

But for all those concerns about causing hurt and getting hurt, Gail just really wants to go back to the warmth and comfort of kissing the beautiful woman in front of her. To forget about everything else that has happened in the past days and just be with Holly. Feel her and hold her, and be felt and be held. And as an added bonus that may help with the 'letting Holly know that she wants to be her mess' thing.

"Urgh, life." Gail murmurs eventually, staring vacantly at a spot on the wall behind Holly.

"I know right, who needs it?"

"You can plan, plan and prepare but it doesn't really matter because things just go where they're gonna go."

"Yep, sort of like this cow lick." Holly smiles to herself at the comparison.

"I'm sitting in a bathtub, waiting to hear if my friends are still alive, drinking bourbon with the coolest chick ever. And I have no hair." Gail looks up at Holly as she says it, and sees the corners of her mouth turn up at the use of the term 'coolest chick ever'.

"Not exactly a fairy tale."

"No." Gail murmurs, unable to take her eyes off the face of the woman in front of her.

"Still kinda beautiful though." Holly sets the scissors down and reaches forwards to hold Gail's chin, and the blonde is immediately grateful for the re-establishment of physical contact between them.

"Oh really?" Gail continues to look deep into Holly's eyes, unable to hide her scepticism.

"Yeah." Holly says it with such warmth and heart, that any lingering doubts and fears Gail had in her head at that moment are washed away, and she finds her gaze, not lessening in intensity, dropping to the lips of the brunette woman crouching in front of her.

Holly cups her cheeks with both hands, tenderly stroking her thumbs across her cheeks as she does so, drawing their faces closer together. For the first time in memory, Gail's desire to run is almost completely absent, and she can't help but continue to watch Holly's lips intently. Whilst the brunette is the one who moves most of the way to meet Gail's lips with her own, the younger woman does lean into it and falls into the kiss just as willingly as Holly from the moment their lips first collide.

Gail marvels at the tenderness of the encounter; slower and softer than their urgent and desperate dalliance in the interrogation room. She feels security in the way Holly's hands ever so slowly move down her jaw, whilst still cupping her cheeks affectionately. And whilst she craves more of Holly; to hold more and feel more and experience more, she also wants to stay in this pure and gentle moment forever.

It feels like an age before Holly pulls back, when it is only a matter of seconds, but what does the truth matter in comparison to this incredible, reality distorting chemistry?

When Holly speaks, she does so quietly. "Come on, let's wash this mess down the drain." She says, her forehead lingering in its position, resting against Gail's own. If Gail weren't so swept away by the passion of the moment she would probably have taken a moment to be impressed with the double meaning to Holly's words.

Gail barely registers that they are standing up, so lost is she in Holly; her face, her scent, her lips. She barely has steadied herself on her feet before she has to pull Holly back to her with a hand behind her head, their lips already apart for too long for her liking. Holly seems to have the same idea, her hand reaching up to her jaw, long fingers stretching around her neck, tickling the skin which would formerly have been covered by her peroxide tresses.

Their kisses start tender, however Gail feels herself giving more, and needing more, and their kiss gathers in intensity in a way that would have left them breathless and gasping for air if Holly hadn't, to Gail's surprise and confusion, broken away to drop down and turn on the water to the showerhead.

"What are you doing?" She asks vacantly, still lost in their embrace, not removing her hand from its hold on Holly's side until the rush of cold water to the top of her head causes her extremities to spasm in shock.

"Oh my God, it's freezing!" She screams. Every muscle in her body clenches as the coldness spreads from her head to her toes. Even the warmth from Holly, whose arms have returned to wrap around Gail's body and hold her close can't prevent the involuntary movements her body is making and distract her from the overwhelming chill that is making her groan out in horror.

Not until Holly's hands return to her cheeks and her mouth is once again enveloping her own, that is. She is still giggling in shock when their lips first collide, but it does not take much for her to fall back into the passion of their kiss, her hands first grasping Holly's shoulders before moving up to hold her face. The pounding cold on the back of her neck is forgotten, along with everything else in the world; their hands holding each other's faces in this place and time, except for a brief moment when some instinct tells Holly to grasp Gail's hand in encouragement.

And Gail takes it, slipping her tongue past Holly's lips, eager to taste again what she only so momentarily got to experience what felt like days earlier in that interrogation room.

Every so often Gail can feel Holly's lips curling up into a smile against her own, and they break apart for mere moments, not breaking their holds on each other's faces, for Gail to succumb to an involuntary excited and slightly dumbfounded giggle. Which only causes Holly's smile to grow greater until one or the other of them deepens their kiss again.

They stay like this, their hands rooted on each other's heads, keeping the other from pulling back too far, although it is clear to both neither has any intention of doing so. It feels like desire, but not just a desire for sexual gratification; a desire to hold and cherish as well as to discover.

Their foreheads eventually come to a rest upon each other's, so they can only breathe in each other's air and can only smell each other's scent.

Gail enjoys the intimacy and comfort of Holly's hands caressing her cheeks. She opens her eyes to see that Holly's glasses have been completely covered with water, obscuring the view of her entrancing dark irises, and loosens her grip on Holly's cranium slightly in order to slide them off her face. She holds them tightly in her hands as she reaches around to grasp Holly's waist, slipping her glasses into her back pocket as she does so.

Holly smiles and opens her eyes, making eye contact immediately with the blonde in front of her. She glances down quickly towards Gail's nervous smile before returning to look deeply into those eyes that are surveying the movements of her face so intently.

Her eyes drift shut again as she speaks. "I should turn off the water."

Gail nods slightly but makes no moves to loosen the grasp on Holly's waist. Holly strokes her cheek with her thumb and Holly can feel the grip tighten.

Holly lets out a long breath that Gail can feel against her face. The brunette ghosts her lips against the other woman's cheeks as she finally moves to turn the shower off, Gail's hands never removing themselves from Holly as she does so.

When she stands again she kisses her way up Gail's neck before returning to rest their foreheads against each other again, eyes closed.

"I'm sorry." Gail murmurs, her eyelids fluttering open so she can try and read Holly's eyes, but when she sees that they are closed to, she gives up and shuts them again.

"For what?"

"This evening. I didn't mean to get all 'me' on you. I just wanted to go to bed and hold you but I guess I… got all freaked out or whatever."

"We can still do that."

"I don't know if I want to anymore."

Holly's eyes snap open, but before she has a chance to vocalise whatever made them do so, Gail has pulled her back into a kiss.

Holly's left hand buries itself in Gail's newly cut hair as her right returns to trace her jawline. Gail feels her shudder against her hand as it slips under her shirt and trace the skin of her lower back. In response, Holly's right hand drops to grip Gail's backside and pull them somehow even closer together.

Gail feels a burning as Holly's hand pulls them tight against each other, and her hands roam slowly further up the other woman's back, marvelling at the smooth, wet skin they find there. She pulls herself from the kiss to look Holly in the eye, tugging her shirt even higher as she does so.

Holly looks at her deeply for a moment before nodding slightly and Gail pulls the shirt up over her head and throws it on the bathroom floor, the water it has soaked up causing it to land with quite a thump.

Holly leans in slightly but Gail lifts a hand to her cheeks and holds her back gently, as she steps back slightly, leaving Holly's arms resting loosely on her shoulders; and drops both of her own hands to run slowly down Holly's side and across her chest, gliding over the muscles of her torso. Her eyes follow her movements closely, absorbing every centimetre of olive skin she can find. She is captivated by its smoothness, by the way she goes from being soft at the curves of her waist, to hard and toned across her abs. She is particularly taken by the plain silver stud she finds at her bellybutton, and the dark moles she discovers occasionally dotted across her frame. She circles each a couple of times before continuing her journey.

Holly makes no attempt to halt Gail's exploration, her eyes following the blonde's own as the move around her body. Every so often Gail will trace her fingers over a particularly sensitive area, and she will tremble slightly, causing Gail to look up at the brunette for a moment, with eyes getting ever darker with lust and desire.

Gail's hands trace her collarbone and start to head south across her chest before they come to a halt less than an inch above the upper edge of her laced black bra. She looks up into Holly's eyes once again, her lip slipping between her teeth.

Holly smiles gently and drops one of her hands to cover Gail's, guiding it down to trace the skin above her bra tenderly, before guiding it up to her lips to grace it with the lightest of kisses, before returning it to its position on her breast

Gail leans in and ghosts her lips against Holly's. "You're so beautiful." She whispers.

Holly pulls her into a deep kiss, dropping her hands to explore the skin under Gail's jumper at her lower back.

Gail shivers violently as Holly's fingers spread across her skin, and the brunette breaks their kiss.

"You're cold?" She murmurs.

"Only a little, it's fine." Gail turns her attention to Holly's neck, coating it in small but wet kisses.

"No, we should… we should dry off… get out of the bath." Gail ignores her, working down towards her collarbone.

"Mmm." Gail continues kissing her.

"Gail." Holly says softly, and Gail lifts her head slightly.

"We should dry off. Warm up."

"You're keeping me warm." Gail says into Holly's neck, but when she looks up into Holly's dark brown eyes she relents. "Fine." She sighs, placing a quick and tender kiss on the other woman's lips before turning and stepping out of the bath. "But if you think I was anywhere near done there you are gravely mistaken." She says, grinning as she chucks a towel at the topless woman still standing in the bathtub.


	3. Chapter 3

I.

Holly wraps the towel Gail has thrown at her around her shoulders and steps out of the bathtub. The blonde is watching her every move; shivering, cocooned tightly within her own towel, but with a dazed smile creeping across her lips.

"You should probably take those jeans off." Holly suggests, once her feet are planted on the floor and she is stood in front of the other woman.

Gail raises her eyebrows. "Is that the best you've got? I was sort of expecting some slightly better moves from you, Holly."

"I have moves, Gail. And I just meant because they're dripping wet and you're so cold you're shaking. And you know that."

Gail ignores the second half of the taller woman's statement. "You think you've got moves? Show me your moves, Holly." She says, her voice not faltering as she takes a step closer to the other woman.

"You couldn't handle my moves." Holly tries her hardest to maintain a somewhat serious and confident expression, but she can feel the corners of her mouth pulling slightly, trying to break out into a grin.

Gail doesn't once break eye contact as she runs her tongue across her lips, the sight of which makes Holly shiver slightly. "Try me."

Holly returns the blonde's intense stare, but neither will move to close the gap that remains between them. Holly's finds herself biting down on her bottom lip for a moment, contemplating the idea of taking that step forward, pinning the blonde against the door and ripping that soaking wet jumper from her body, against all her better judgement. She blinks, temporarily shaking the idea from her mind, before pulling the towel off from around her shoulders and dropping it on the blonde's head, lightly rubbing it over her hair.

"Dry your hair officer, I don't want you dropping any remnants of your haircut all over my, oh so lovely, carpets."

Gail shakes the towel off of her face, her arms still cocooned under the other towel, and glares at Holly, pouting. It is the single most adorable thing the forensic pathologist has ever seen, and she can't help but grin.

"I knew you didn't have any moves. You're such a nerd, have you ever actually pulled a woman before, Holly?"

Holly raises an eyebrow at her, smirking. "No, Gail. I'm saving myself until marriage."

Gail sniffs. "Weird kind of morals you have; letting random women touch you up in the shower."

"Lapse of judgement." Holly grins, as she stops drying Gail's hair and moves to dry off her own torso. "Don't worry, I definitely won't be letting it happen again."

Holly enjoys the way Gail's eyes narrow at her jesting. She leans down and starts to pull off her own jeans, a task easier said than done with all that accumulated water making them stick to her legs. As she peels them down her knees she chances a look up at Gail and is pleased to see that she is watching her every move closely, mouth slightly open.

When Gail notices that she has been caught staring, she snaps her mouth shut and looks away, and Holly notices a slight pink tinge appear on her cheeks. It isn't long however, before she rapidly blinks, and recomposes herself, a scowl falling back over her features as she turns to look at the brunette once more.

"Don't feel too bad, it was a lapse of judgement from me too." She says, and Holly glances up at her, but she knows from Gail's tone of voice that she has nothing serious to worry about.

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah, I mean, I suppose the shock of being so cold and wet just threw me. So I guess we're both classless sinners together."

Holly stands up, now rid of her jeans, which she kicks off to the side. She feels a slight chill but it is worth it to feel Gail eyes not to subtly appraising her from head to toe.

And appraise her she does, but before she has time to run her eyes completely over Holly's body, the brunette is moving past her, ducking to run her lips past her ear as she goes.

"If I showed you my moves you'd be screaming the Lord's name so loud you wouldn't even remember you were sinning. And at least with me you'd be hot and wet. So hot and wet."

Gail's eyes shoot wide open and her arm falls limp at her side. Holly hears her turn around to watch her leave, but no further words come from the smaller woman as she walks out the door, shutting it behind her.

She leans against it, turning pink. Sure she has moves, but that was fairly out of character for the slightly socially awkward doctor. She had definitely never talked like that to someone she wasn't in a stable relationship with before. But she couldn't resist Gail's teasing, it gave her some sort of raw, primal need to prove her wrong, even though she knew that's exactly what the officer had been gunning for. The idea had flashed across her mind, a way to give into Gail like she wanted to without completely losing the upper hand. And Holly's fairly sure it worked. Or it may have caused some sort of major freak out and Gail was about the come bounding out that door, down the stairs and out of Holly's house for good.

God, she really hopes it worked.

II.

It takes a solid five minutes of Gail standing aimlessly open mouthed in the middle of Holly's bathroom before she snaps out her stupor.

That was unexpected… but not entirely unwelcome.

She suddenly becomes very aware of how cold she is, and kicks off her clothes, grabbing a fresh towel to wrap around her naked body. A towel slightly too small for the job she is giving it. She looks in the mirror and notices just how small it is. It would be hard for her to have much more leg on show without exposing herself for anyone to see.

It is at that moment that Holly bursts into the room.

"I got you some clothes to ch… oh, I'm sorry." She falters as her eyes land on the younger woman.

She averts her eyes, and Gail smirks slightly.

"I, uh, I'll leave these here." She says, placing the clothes down as she pointedly looks anywhere but at the woman before her. "I think everything should fit. I'll… leave you to get changed."

Gail sniggers as Holly hurries out of the bathroom, slamming the door behind her.

Once she is changed into a pair of her friend's pyjamas, Gail follows Holly out of the door and down the stairs, where the lights are clearly still on. Holly is sat at the kitchen counter drinking a glass of water in a button down flannel shirt and an exceptionally small pair of cotton shorts. Engrossed in a book, she apparently doesn't notice that someone else has entered the room.

"For a moment there you almost had me persuaded you were some sort of cool, confident lesbian seductress." Gail whispers as she creeps up behind her.

Holly jumps slightly, and Gail giggles.

"I was just a bit surprised, you threw my game." Holly tries to argue of her behaviour in the bathroom just moments earlier.

"What game?"

"We're not starting that again."

Gail sighs melodramatically and drops into a seat at the counter. "Fine."

"Did you giggle just now?" Holly asks, closing her book and turning to give the younger woman her full attention.

"What? No." Gail can feel herself turning pink, though.

"You did, you definitely giggled. I broke the ice queen." Holly gives Gail a gentle shove in the shoulder, her smile stretching wide across her face.

Gail narrows her eyes at her companion. "That shirt is really gay, Holly." She says, picking the first thing she can think of to change the topic.

"Strangely that doesn't really bother me."

"I never said it doesn't suit you."

"Well these are looking pretty good on you," Holly says, resting her hand on Gail's knee, indicating the flannel pants separating her hand from the pale skin of the other woman's legs, "Maybe I could start to kit your wardrobe out with some sort of flannel starter pack now you may be one of us?"

Gail's feels her insides squirm, and drops her gaze to the ground. Her heart starts to pound in her ears and she can feel a heat rising up from the round neck of the t-shirt she's wearing.

"Sorry that was a stupid thing to say, you don't have to have some sort of big discussion about that." Holly says, her tone so soft it's almost melodic. Gail feels two fingers under her chin, gently lifting her head up and her gaze away from Holly's marbled floor.

"Does it matter?" Gail murmurs, still unable to make eye contact with the woman in front of her. "I like you, and I'm loyal. Except with Nick but they were… exceptional circumstances. So surely that's all that matters." She shrugs, unsure… unsure, really about everything, about who she is, about what may and may not matter, unsure about everything other than her affection for the forensic pathologist who it was hard to believe had only been in her life a matter of months. "I don't know about the rest, about the woman... man, thing. Whatever that makes me. But I know that I like you, and I'm loyal."

"Of course it is, honey." Holly smiles, but it is in her eyes, when Gail finally meets them, that she finds reassurance.

Holly moves to remove her hand from Gail's chin but the blonde reaches up and holds it in place. "I like you a lot. I really like you."

"I really like you too." Holly smiles, as she closes the gap between them, leaning forward to capture Gail's lips with her own.

Gail pushes back against the kiss, dropping one of her hands to rest on Holly's bare thigh. She isn't conscious of much, but she feels a loss when Holly's hand departs from where it has been resting on her leg, then a comfort as it tangles in the hair at the back of her head, playing with the short hairs at the top of her neck, as her other hand traces her jawline.

As Gail deepens their kiss, her gentle parting of Holly's lips greeted eagerly by other woman, Holly pushes slightly too strongly against the other woman, and Gail, a small but sizable amount of alcohol still running through her veins, starts to overbalance on the stool. Holly apparently feels the movement just in time to grab Gail's shirt and hold her still, stopping her from tumbling backwards, but breaking the kiss.

"Maybe we should get some sleep." Holly suggests.

"I'm not drunk." Gail has that intense look in her eyes again, and Holly, her eyes still not totally focused, takes a moment to reply, in which time Gail has slipped off her stool and is standing between her legs, pulling them back together; lips once again moving against each other. Gail can taste the bourbon on her own breath, but Holly's resistance seems to crumble, and Gail finds bare legs wrapping themselves around her waist, pulling them tighter together, causing a light moan to escape from both their lips.

Gail redirects her attention to the other woman's neck, trailing kisses from her jaw to her collar and back up again.

Holly attempts to speak through the pleasure. "We should… we should stop."

"Why?" Gail's lips and tongue are still working their way up Holly's throat as she speaks.

"You've been drinking… and, I don't want to make you do something you don't feel ready for."

"I'm ready, Holly."

Holly groans. "We have work in a few hours. We should sleep."

Gail finally stops her task and leans back, groaning lightly.

"Fine." She feels slightly deflated, a familiar voice at the back of her head starting to thread doubts into her mind. Until a compromise suddenly appears at the forefront of her thoughts. "But I can sleep in your bed, right?" She asks.

Holly smiles. "Of course Gail, you are always more than welcome to sleep in my bed." She slips off her stool, taking Gail's hand in her own and leading her up the stairs.

Gail has seen the inside of Holly's bedroom only a couple of times before, and only briefly. She has a magnificently large bed; much larger than Gail's. Unlike Gail, Holly makes her bed every day, and her covers match the colour scheme of her room; a pale green and white colour scheme with dark wood furniture.

Holly lets go of Gail's hand as they enter the room, and whilst the blonde is rooted to the spot just inside the closed door, Holly walks over to the side of the bed and starts to pull down the covers, before looking up, confused, at the other woman in the room.

"Is everything okay? Sorry I didn't ask, did you want to sleep on this side of the bed, or do you want something else to wear, I know some people don't like to wear pants to bed? Or if you've changed your mind, that's fine, I can go make up the guest bed or…" Her rambling is cut off by Gail marching over and gently pressing their lips together.

"You need to work on that rambling."

"Why, when I have you here to help me?"

Gail feels her lips curling up into a smile, but before it is fully formed she lets out a large, involuntary yawn, right in Holly's face.

"You have a very attractive set of tonsils." Holly smirks.

"Shut up." Gail murmurs, burying her face into Holly's collar.

"Come on." Holly pulls up the covers so Gail can climb under them, burying herself into the soft mattress.

Holly starts to walk away from the bed when a hand grabs her wrist. "Where are you going?"

"I'm just turning off the light."

Gail settles on her side as the light turns out, facing the bedside table next to her, which is already faintly lit by the early morning sun creeping through the gaps in the drapes. She feels a dip in the mattress behind her as Holly climbs into the bed, and reaches an arm behind her, pulling the brunette closer until a familiar arm wraps around her waist and pulls her back into Holly's front.

"I like the way your boobs feel against my back." Gail murmurs, struggling to stay awake even long enough to finish her sentence.

"I like the way your back feels against my boobs." Holly replies quietly.

One of Gail's arms wraps itself around the one Holly has around her waist.

"Thank you for fixing my hair." Gail murmurs.

"Anytime." Holly whispers back, kissing her lightly on the back of the neck.

III.

It is Gail who is first to wake. In the night, Holly has rolled onto her back and Gail has turned over, onto her other side to bury her face in the other woman's shoulder. It takes Gail a few moments for the initial shock of waking up in bed with some else to pass, and a contentness to wash over her, happy memories of Holly holding her and looking after her flooding back into her conscience.

Lifting her head to glance at the time causes Holly to stir and groan slightly at the lost warmth from the blonde's body. They still have an hour until Gail needs to be at work, and she tries to settle back into Holly's side to fall asleep again, but the other woman opens her eyes and looks down at the blonde.

"Hi." She whispers.

"Morning."

"How are you feeling?"

"Not too bad, considering."

"Considering...?"

"Everything." Gail sighs. "Thank you for looking after me."

"You don't need to thank me for that."

"I do." Gail becomes incapable of lifting her gaze away from her fingers as they play with the hem of Holly's shirt. "I can't quite believe I'm here."

"Here?"

"With you. In your bed. After everything that went down yesterday."

"In a way, neither can I. I'm glad you are though."

Gail finally meets Holly's eyes, a faint smile materialising at the corners of her lips.

"When do you need to be at work?" Holly asks.

"In an hour." Gail lifts her head up to kiss Holly lightly on the lips.

"I'm so comfy." Holly says, as their lips part.

"Mmm, let's just stay here all day."

"That would be nice."

"Can we?"

"Sadly not."

"I hate you." Gail nuzzles Holly's collar.

Holly smiles. "No you don't."

Gail looks back up at the older woman, and Holly leans back down and recaptures her lips.

Gail slowly runs her hands up Holly's side. Although she lacks some of the boldness that the tiredness and alcohol had provided her a few hours earlier, there is still a great need behind her kisses, a desperation and desire to her explorations of Holly's lips and mouth with her own. Her hands however, roam only slowly and tentatively up the other woman's body.

Holly loses one hand in Gail's hair and the other creeps down to Gail's posterior, where it firmly rests. It is intimate, but not quite so adventurous, Gail notes, as the other woman had been the previous night.

Gail can feel Holly's hand move up onto her lower back, pushing up her t-shirt slightly as she does so. She enjoys it; the gentle but firm touch of Holly's fingers on her bare skin. She's already noticed that Holly likes to cup her cheek when they kiss, something her other hand is slowly working its way around to do, and she likes that; there is an affection to it she can't quite pinpoint, but is starting to love nonetheless. But this feeling of cool digits on skin yet to be explored by the brunette simultaneously fills her with warmth and sends shivers of anticipation across her body.

Their slow but passionate kiss ends as Gail's hand falters as it reaches Holly's breast. Holly opens her eyes, waiting for Gail to meet her gaze. When Gail stays frozen with her hand just ghosting the underside of her breast, Holly gently and smoothly rolls them over so that Gail is underneath her.

She lowers herself so her lips are millimetres from Gail's ear. "You can touch me there, Gail. I want you to feel comfortable touching me." She whispers before trailing kisses along her jaw and returning to her lips once again, kissing her deeply.

As Holly plants one arm to the side of Gail's head to lean on, she uses the other to stroke at Gail's hairline, whilst Gail's hands return to her hips, and once again begin to work up her stomach over her shirt.

This time they make it to her breast, cupping her lightly, causing Holly to moan into their kiss. When Gail feels her nipples harden against her thumbs through the shirt, she too can't help but let out a moan as she feels a slight throb between her legs.

"I'm sorry. I want to touch you. I like touching you. It's just new and I'm worried I'm going to do it wrong, because you're so wonderful and I don't want to be bad." Gail gushes as they break apart.

"Gail, don't worry; there isn't really a bad way to touch a boob." Holly says, laughing slightly.

"I was once with a guy who bit mine. Not like, gently or nibbling or anything, he bit down on it, really hard. He drew blood."

Holly flinches at the thought, and both women grimace.

"Okay, yeah; that would be bad. But I figure that as you're also a woman, with boobs, you would probably know that would not be good."

"But what about other stuff… more complicated stuff."

"We don't need to do any more complicated stuff until you're ready. And when… if, we do, it's not just experience that makes someone good at those things. Every woman likes different things and you don't know what they like until you're doing it, so who knows, I may be terrible for you the first time…"

"You're really selling this whole 'sex with women' thing." Gail's mouth twitches into a smile, and Holly rolls her eyes.

"Well if you'll let me finish." She ducks down and kisses Gail briefly on the lips. "But you learn what they like and then it gets really, really amazing. And when you're with someone you care about, who cares about you, it's always special. So with you… it's going to be incredible. And everything you've done so far has been really, really good, so you really have nothing to worry about, believe me."

"I've barely done anything."

Holly sighs gently. "Gail, when you were touching me in the shower earlier, that was… I really struggled to not jump you right then and there. It was good."

"I didn't even touch your boob without you helping me."

"And that's how I know you're going to be great. It was really, unbelievably hot."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah." Holly smiles and drops her head, meeting Gail's lips once more. One of Gail's hands rises to tangle itself in Holly's hair, whilst the other kneads her breast unashamedly for a few moments, before sliding down to find purchase on her buttock, pulling them tightly together.

Holly slips her hand up over Gail's own t-shirt, and the blonde feels herself explode as her thumbs ghost over an erect nipple. She shudders, and Holly responds by tightening her hold on the flesh, rubbing against the sensitive teat through the thin fabric.

But then a loud ringing stops them from progressing any further, as a phone starts buzzing from another room.

"Is that yours?" Holly says, pulling back.

"Urgh, yes. It's in the bathroom." Gail says. "Ignore it, I'll speak to whoever it is at work." She pulls Holly back down and their lips interlock, but it is not long before it starts ringing again. Holly rolls off the other woman and collapses on her back.

"Fuck sake." Gail says as she pushes herself off the bed and stalks out of the room, glancing at the clock as she goes. Maybe the phone ringing was a good thing. They needed to stop at some point soon if either of them are going to make it to work on time.

When Gail returns, Holly is stood at her open wardrobe.

"It was Steve, he wanted to know if I need a lift to work, but I told him you could drop me off. Is that okay?" She asks, throwing herself back onto the bed.

"Yeah, no problem." Holly turns to her and smiles, and Gail feels her heart beat a little bit faster.

"Maybe you should have slept with me last night when I wasn't being all ridiculous and nervous and slow. Got it over and done with."

Holly turns around and sits next to Gail on the bed. The blonde pushes herself upright to join her.

"Gail, I don't want sex with you to be a case of 'getting it over and done with'. I'd rather wait than know that you were only comfortable doing it because you were drunk."

"And in the middle of an emotional breakdown, don't forget that."

Holly places a kiss on her cheek. "You're worth waiting for." She stands up and walks towards the bedroom door, grabbing her clothes on the way.

"Well that's just piling on the pressure, Stewart. I'm going to be a nervous wreck before we even get to third base." Gail shouts after her.

"You'll be fine, Peck. Don't overthink it." Holly's voice shouts in return.

When Holly returns, fully dressed, the police officer is lying, eyes closed on the bed where she left her. She chucks a pair of jeans at her, and they land on her face, causing Gail to release a muffled cry.

She pulls them off to see Holly brushing her hair in the mirror.

"Get up Officer, we need to leave in fifteen minutes if you're not going to be late for work."

"That was unnecessary." Gail grumbles as she sits up. "Can I borrow a shirt, I don't really want to be doing a walk of shame into the station."

"I wouldn't worry Gail, I think your hair will probably distract all attention away from what you're wearing."

"Crap." Gail lifts her hands to run through her hair. For a brief moment there she had forgotten quite how drastically out of hand last night had gotten. "Urgh, I'm never going to be able to avoid questions about this."

"If it makes you feel any better, you probably chose a reasonably good night to make such a major change to your appearance. At least you know they all have bigger things preoccupying them."

"Like my emerging lesbianism?"

"Like their colleagues in the hospital." Holly takes a black t-shirt from her wardrobe and throws it on top of the jeans that Gail has pushed onto the bed beside her. "Get dressed, I'll make you coffee."

IV.

Holly pulls her car up into the parking lot at Fifteen ten minutes before Gail is due at parade.

"Why couldn't we just call in sick? We could've been getting to the good stuff by now." Gail groans, making no moves to exit the vehicle.

"I don't think the day that three of your fellow officers are off work in the hospital is a good day to be playing hooky. Hurry up or you'll be late."

"How are you always so sensible about things? We're going to clash over that, you know."

"I'm looking forward to it, now go." Holly gives Gail a light push and the blonde turns to glare lightly at her.

"You should be begging me to stay in bed with you, you're the worst hook-up ever." She says, as she opens the door, before leaning over to give her a chaste, but slightly lingering, kiss.

Holly blinks in surprise. Whilst they hadn't been completely discrete with their handholding in the hospital, she has no expectation that Gail would kiss her openly in her workplace car park, at least without looking around first to check there was no one else around. Which, granted, there wasn't, but still.

"Call me later!?" Holly calls after her as she climbs out of the car.

"Don't be clingy Holly, it's deeply unattractive." Gail retorts but she can't quite help but flash a smile at the other woman as she does so, closing the door behind her and heading into the precinct.


	4. Chapter 4

I.

Inside the precinct there are only a few officers roaming around; Gail has never seen it this empty. She can't help but feel a slight twinge of happiness that she almost manages to make it to the locker room without running into anyone who knows her well enough to comment on her hair, though.

Almost.

"Woah." She her brother's voice before she sees him. He is stood opposite the women's locker room entrance, much like he had been when he was waiting for her in the early hours of this morning, playing with his phone, mouth hanging agape as he stares at her.

"What are you still doing here?" Gail grumbles.

"We've been working the Ford case all night, just about to go home." He narrows his eyes slightly, and she shifts uncomfortably on her feet. "When did you manage to fit a haircut into the last 6 hours?"

Gail shrugs. "About 4am."

"What…?"

"I don't want to talk about it." The idea of discussing with her brother the drastic exposing of her vulnerability to Holly earlier that morning makes Gail feel a little ill.

Steve picks up on her reluctance and changes the topic. "Were you with Holly all night?"

"Yep."

"So whilst some of us were working hard through the night, you were busy getting down and dirty with our best forensic pathologist?"

"Don't be crass, Steve."

"So you were?"

"What, no! I'm not talking about Holly with you!"

The door to the locker room opens before her brother can reply, and Traci appears, stopping dead in her tracks when she realises who the blonde in front of her is.

"Wow, Gail… nice hair." The detective says, offering a tired, but seemingly genuine smile.

"Thanks." Gail mumbles.

"Where… did you get it done?"

"Holly."

"Oh right. Well, tell her I said it looks good."

"Sure." Gail shrugs and looks down at her feet.

Traci turns to Steve. "You ready?" She asks.

Steve nods, but before they can start to move down the corridor, Gail grabs his arm. "Wait, can I just…" She gestures around aimlessly, but Traci guesses her intention.

"I'll see you by the car. Have a good shift, Gail."

"Did you, you know, tell anyone?" Gail asks, watching Traci's retreating figure rather than making any sort of eye contact with her brother.

"I literally only just saw you, how could I have told someone?"

Gail looks up at him in slight disbelief of his dopiness. "Not the hair, about Holly."

"Oh, oh. Of course I haven't. That's your news to tell. But you know you weren't very subtle at the hospital yesterday, right? People may have worked it out for themselves. Especially because it's you, you know; everyone knows when Gail Peck holds someone's hand, they must be pretty special." He replies.

"Right. Thanks. I mean, I don't care if people know; I just also don't want people to make a big deal about it."

"Okay, well I'll tell Traci to cancel the 'coming out' party she's planning then." He flashes her a mischievous grin she is all too used to seeing.

Gail gives her brother a shove to the shoulder and scowls at him in response. "You said you didn't tell anyone."

"I didn't, she guessed."

She eyes him suspiciously for a moment. "Okay, whatever. But yes, definitely no parties."

"If I hear about any, I promise I'll try find a way to put a stop them. But, um, I actually had something I wanted to talk to you about."

Gail cocks her head slightly. "Oh yeah?"

"I got a call from Mom about half an hour ago…"

"If this is about me not going on those ridiculous blind dates anymore, she can…" Gail interrupts him, her voice raising slightly.

But before she can finish her own sentence, Gail herself is interrupted by her brother. "It's not about that. She was telling me that Inspector Jarvis stripped Best of Staff Sergeant last night, it's all pending an investigation up at headquarters but she seemed pretty sure it was going to stick," he says, in a hushed voice.

"What, why?"

"Something to do with the handling of this whole Ford thing, I don't know. But they're likely not going to tell you everything, and she wanted us to know. You know her, she probably wanted to remind us that she's up there, getting all the information we're not privy to."

"Why hasn't she tried to call me yet?"

"I told her I would tell you so that she didn't have to herself. Because I thought maybe you wouldn't want her calling you today… or for the next few days."

She shudders at the thought of her mother asking her about her private life right about now. "Oh, right. Yeah, I guess you're right. Thanks."

"Just don't go gossiping about it to everyone."

"I am many things Steve, but I'm not much of a gossip. Have they instated someone new?"

"Mom thinks they're gunning for Shaw, but obviously that's not going to happen until he's back at work, so you'll probably be stuck with Jarvis for a while."

Gail groans at the memories of the steely, uncompromising man who used to frequent her parents' soirees when she was a teenager. "Brilliant, so I'm losing my partner and we're stuck with Jarvis? I should have stayed in bed."

"Yeah I know, maybe you should apply for the next detective rotation, join me up in Guns and Gangs…?"

Gail's expression returns to a steely glare.

Steve smirks slightly. "Sorry, Mom may or may not have made me promise to slip that in somewhere."

"Yeah, well, you didn't have to actually do it."

"I'm a man of my word, Gail, I would never lie to our mother." He grins.

"Oh right, so she knows that you had sex with Annie Marchelis, in Mom's bed, at a house party you threw when they spent a weekend at the cottage when you were 18, then?" Her eyebrows raise, her lips pursed at her brother's pure cheek.

"You should get going or you'll be late to parade." His grin falters slightly but his tone remains steady as he pushes her towards the locker room door and he sets of down the corridor towards the car park.

Gail turns back to look at him walking away. "I swear to God Steve, if I find out that you've mentioned anything about Holly to Mum I will make sure you don't have any secrets to keep from her anymore."

Steve doesn't look back as he shouts back. "You really don't want to start playing that game, Gail. Don't think I don't know about you and Nick in the back of Dad's car."

Gail's face scrunches at the memory as she rolls her eyes at the back of her brother's head, watching him walk out of the door, before darting into the locker room to get ready in the short minutes left before she's meant to be at parade.

II.

"Where the hell is everyone?" Gail asks as she sits down next to Chris in the parade room, technically a minute late, but there is no-one at the front to register that. There is no-one in most of the seats. Chris is the only one of her friends in the room, along with only a handful of other officers.

"Dov's in the hospital with Chloe, Andy's with Sam. They were both witnesses at an armed robbery gone wrong at about 4 o'clock this morning, so they were given the day off. Chloe woke up at about 3, Sam a couple of hours later. Cruz is still in with SIU, I think. Most people who weren't witnesses to the shooting were here helping with the investigation all night, but they've mostly gone home. I think Traci was one of them. They only finished cleaning up the crime scene about an hour ago." Chris narrows his eyes slightly as he takes in her hair, but says nothing about it.

"What about Nick?"

"I don't know, I only know anything because Dov's been texting me. I only just got here." Chris shrugs slightly.

"Yeah, me too. Is Oliver okay?"

"Dov said he should be getting discharged later today, back to work by the end of the week, hopefully."

"Hmm." Gail is still not quite finished processing the idea of Oliver coming back to work as a staff sergeant. Sure, he'd be good, but he's her partner. She likes him, she doesn't want him to leave her out on the street to potentially be stuck with a partner like Price whilst he works behind a desk all day. Something she knows for a fact he wouldn't want to do anyway.

"You didn't come home last night." Chris tears her from her thoughts

"I stayed at Holly's." She looks forward at the empty spot where a staff sergeant should be stood, not meeting Chris' inquisitive gaze.

"Oh. Well that's good, right?"

"Yeaaaah…" She drags the word out but is stopped from saying anything more by a buzzing in her pocket. She pulls out her phone and a small smile creeps onto her face when she sees who is contacting her.

Holly: Do you know what happened to that file I brought over to the station yesterday? May or may not have gotten distracted and left it in an interrogation room

Gail's smile widens at the memory of Holly, all flustered and adorable at the precinct yesterday, and she hastily taps out a reply.

Gail: Honestly, no idea. Not like you to get distracted at work

There are only moments before her phone buzzes with the reply.

Holly: Unforeseen circumstances threw me a little

Gail: Unforeseen? Don't pretend you didn't come to the station planning to get a little action

Holly: I was just coming to check on someone, completely innocent

Gail: Oh yeah, who?

Holly: This hot blonde cop chick. She looks a lot like you, but her hair's not as sexy

Holly: But seriously, I may need to come pick up that file at some point

Gail: I'll have a look for it after parade

Gail: If that means you're promising to come to the station at some point

Holly: I don't know, the courier usually does that stuff

Gail: I'm sure you can make an exception

Holly: I'll see what I can do. Depends what's in it for me

Gail: You'll have to come and find out

She slips the phone in her pocket still smiling widely. She feels Chris' eyes on her to her left, and she turns to look at him, her smile fading to be replaced with her usual glacial expression.

"That Holly?"

"Yeah, not that it's any of your business."

"No, I know. You just seem happy. It's nice." He says, earnestly.

"Why is it that whenever I'm happy people always want to make a big deal about it? Does anyone ever think that maybe I'm usually happy, and it's you guys who turn me into a cynical, cranky bitch?"

"Maybe, but we live together and we used to date. I know you hate it, but we actually know each other quite well."

"Whatever, Chris." Gail dismisses him. It annoys her more than most other things, when other people seem to think they know her so intimately. Maybe they know what she's like, and what she does, and what she likes to do, but that doesn't mean they actually know who she is. Years of people dismissing her as the self-involved, unfeeling, nasty, suck-up daughter of police royalty made her miserable for so long. She's past that now, she's learnt to build up her walls and not let it bother her like it used to, and her friends have slowly come around to a slow acceptance that she is not the person they initially thought she was, but it still irks her when people think they have her all sussed out. And even after four years of working together, it's quite clear that her closest workmates still haven't quite managed to fully shake their initial opinions of her. Except maybe Oliver, but she's not sure he ever really viewed her like the others did anyway.

Holly doesn't do that. She's never viewed Gail with the filter everyone else seems to see her through, not once in the time they've known each other. There is still so much of herself Gail has to show Holly, but somehow it already feels like Holly understands her and accepts her more than she remembers anyone else doing in a long time. And she's the first person she's met in a long time who Gail finds herself actually wanting to let in.

Urgh Gail shakes herself, forcing herself to think about something less pathetic. That had been dangerously close to being an extremely sentimental and introspective train of thought. As if she hasn't had enough of those in the past 24 hours.

They only sit there in a slightly awkward silence for a minute or so longer, before Inspector Jarvis enters the room and makes his way to the front. She grimaces and sits back in her seat, awaiting Jarvis' inevitable explanation of his new temporary reign as Staff Sergeant.

III.

She is, as she expected when she saw who was in the parade room, partnered with Chris for the day. There are only a couple of other cars out on patrol with them, and they are all helping operate a speed check. Probably Jarvis attempting to prevent them getting involved in any major busts whilst they are so low on officers.

It works for Gail though. She can just lean against the squad and text Holly about how bored she is while Chris does all the actual work. Or at least, that's what she manages to do for the first three hours, until Holly gets called out to a crime scene to work on a just discovered body. Just half an hour before lunch too, when Gail had planned on surprising Holly at the morgue with takeout.

So now she's just angry at the world, and spending the whole day issuing speeding tickets is not helping. She doesn't have much interest in talking with Chris either, still holding onto some anger at his suggestion that he knows her so extremely well and that she truly is some sort of perpetually unhappy antagonist. That's probably Holly's fault. Showing Gail that it is actually possible to treat her like a fully developed human being with feelings has kind of raised her expectations of all human interactions. He's tried engaging her in conversation numerous times, but the fact that he has no idea why she's annoyed with him is not working in his favour.

If Holly was actually here she may point out that giving Chris the cold shoulder for one gaffe he is unaware of probably doesn't help people change their opinion of her. And she can't help being petulant, that's second nature to her. She may be self-destructive, but maybe if people stopped pretending they knew why, she wouldn't be so nasty. Maybe. Maybe she is just a horrible person and Holly has some sort of brain injury which is stopping her from seeing that.

"Maybe we should go to the hospital in our lunch break?" He suggests in his sixth or seventh attempt to get a civil response from his partner.

Gail shrugs, but internally she concedes that does actually seem like a good idea. If she can't see Holly in her break, seeing Oliver is easily the next best thing. And she can palm off Diaz to Dov and Chloe.

"Sure, but we need to grab lunch on the way, I'm not eating hospital food."

Chris smiles slightly to himself at the semi-successful interaction. Is that all it takes to get a smile out of her friends now? Getting through a single sentence without insulting them?

IV.

She loses Chris within about two minutes of entering the hospital, he headed towards the ICU and Chloe, and she in the opposite direction to Oliver's room. She narrowly avoids an encounter with a very tired looking McNally in the corridor on her way. She hasn't had much time to consider the Nick/Andy/Sam situation in the past 24 hours, but she knows that part of her is slightly selfishly smug that Nick appears to have been dumped, and another part mad at McNally for feeling it necessary to spend a couple of weeks sleeping with Nick, knowing full well it would hurt Gail, even though it was now apparent her feelings for him were pretty insignificant compared to those for Sam.

It amazes her, when people do things like that to her, how anyone ever expects her to trust other people.

Oliver is alone in his room, but speaking to someone on the phone. Relief sweeps over Gail as he looks up at her and smiles. She hadn't contemplated it until about thirty seconds ago, but a slight worry that he would be asleep and she would have to find someone else to keep her entertained was starting to creep into her mind.

"Alright, Celery, you just get back to sleep. Peck is here now, so I'll be fine for a while. I promise. I'll see you in a couple of hours. Okay. Yes. Okay, I love you, too. Bye."

Gail is stood, eyebrows raised in the doorway. "The L word, huh?"

"I hear that's what I should be asking you? Different L word, mind."

Gail feels herself turning slightly pink. "Who are your sources?"

"Chloe, but I believe hers were Dov and Chris."

"So much for a private life." She sighs, pulling up a chair beside his bed and pulling her lunch out of a carrier bag.

"She didn't have a whole lot to say. Just that you were apparently looking quite cosy with a certain forensic pathologist in the waiting room last night. Who I presumed was the same forensic pathologist who followed you out of an interrogation room at the precinct yesterday."

Gail sinks slightly into her chair. A part of her had been hoping she'd gotten away with that. Which was a bit naïve, admittedly, Oliver is a decent police officer after all, and it would probably be worrying if his deductive reasoning hadn't got him to that conclusion. "Holly, yeah. Please say you didn't mention that bit to Chloe?"

"Nope, no, that's between us."

"Good. Thanks." She smiles up at him, weakly.

"You want to talk about it?" He looks at her, his expression so open and honest and kind that she struggles to fight it.

"I don't know, I mean there's not a lot to say. We kissed. Well, I kissed her. Then I freaked out and cut off all my hair." She waves her hand vaguely towards her head as she speaks, indicating the newly acquired pixie cut, in case it somehow had escaped his notice.

"I was going to ask. Well you did a pretty neat job of it."

"Holly fixed it for me."

"Sounds like a keeper. Why did you freak out? The woman thing?"

A look of great concentration and thought falls upon Gail's face, her eyes narrowing slightly and her lips pursing. "No, I don't think so. That was only a tiny part of it. I think it was more just because I like her, a lot. It's kind of scary, how good I feel when we're together."

"But she hung around, after you cut off the hair?"

"Yeah, and that's what makes it so scary. I had a meltdown in front of her, and kind of insulted her, pretty badly too, and she stuck around and looked after me. No-one's ever done that before."

Oliver smiles warmly at her. "She sounds like she's good for you. I've liked her when I've worked with her, she seems nice."

Gail smiles into her pack of cheese puffs, eyes slightly glazed over. "She's pretty great." When she registers that she's possibly been indulging Oliver with more details of her budding relationship than she is entirely comfortable with, her eyes snap back up to look at the gently smiling man on the bed before her.

Yeah, she definitely said too much. "Not a word of me going all soppy is to reach anyone's ears, you hear me Shaw?"

"Only if you give me one of whatever's in that bag."

Gail narrows her eyes at the other officer suspiciously, before reaching in and pulling out a box of donuts, watching as an excited glint appears in his eyes.

V.

When they get back on the streets, the afternoon proves to be no more interesting than the morning, and by the time their shift is ending, Gail's foul mood is back in full force.

She is getting changed in the near empty locker room when her phone alerts her to a new message.

Holly: Sorry, haven't been able to leave the lab since this body got in. Finished now though, still okay if I come pick up that file?

Gail looks into her locker and pulls out the papers she had earlier discovered still scattered in the interrogation room, placing them on the bench behind her.

Gail: Sure, meet you outside

Holly: Great, should be there in fifteen, thank you!

And sure enough, fifteen minutes Holly's car pulls into the car park, where Gail is stood waiting for her, file in hand.

"Thank you, so much." Holly says as she approaches the blonde. "My boss would have murdered me if he found out I was dumping case notes around the stations so I could talk to girls I liked."

"Why didn't you just bring a fake file, dumbass?" Gail asks, her face still carrying the weight of her frustration at the day.

"Because, officer, I wanted a solid backbone to my reasoning for being there. In case you started snooping." Holly stops in her tracks, only mere inches from Gail, arms awkwardly hanging by her sides. It doesn't take a genius to work out that the brunette is unsure about how to greet her.

"You didn't really allow much time for snooping before you went full on ramble-mania."

"Yeah, well, I got kind of flustered. How was your shift?"

Gail shrugs and slouches slightly. "Crap, boring. Plus side, apparently everyone knows about us already so at least I don't have to actually tell them." Her scowl lessens a bit.

"And you don't mind that they know?"

Gail shrugs again. She stops scowling, and while she doesn't replace her frown with any indication of a smile, Holly visibly relaxes slightly, apparently put slightly at ease. "No, I thought I would, maybe, but I don't."

"But it was a crap day anyway?"

"Yeah, it was boring, we were doing pointless work, Best's being replaced, maybe by Oliver, Chris was the only other person without the day off and he was just such poor company compared to you. And I'm hungry."

Holly laughs softly. "Well I can probably do something about that last one. You want to go to that diner down the street?"

Finally some warmth finds its way into Gail's expression. "That would be… amazing. No salads, though."

"I know, come on."

Holly turns to head back to her car, but is stopped by Gail's hand on her wrist.

"Were you really going to walk off without kissing me?" Gail asks, eyebrows slightly raised.

"I didn't know if you wanted…?" Holly is cut off as Gail pulls on her wrist again, pulling them together in a tender meeting of lips.

"I want, Holly." Gail's lips curl as she pulls back, noticing the slightly dumbfounded but happy smile that has emerged on Holly's face.

She lets go of the other woman's wrist and skips –or as close as Gail has ever come to skipping- around to the passenger side of Holly's car. Holly turns slowly to look at her.

"Cat got your tongue, Dr Stewart?" Gail grins as she ducks into the vehicle. Holly blinks a couple of times and follows.

VI.

Eating dinner with Holly is the easiest thing in the world. It's barely different from when they were friends, only now there is something new and exciting in the way they look at each other. But the way they make each other laugh and forget their problems as they talk about their days, that's the same. That was always there. And any of Gail's lingering fears about this new relationship slip effortlessly away as she is reminded just how easy being with Holly is.

Gail still makes fun of Holly's little quirks, like the way she can never decide what she wants to eat, then gets flustered when the waitress comes over to take her order and blurts out something randomly from the menu she had almost no intention of actually ordering. And Holly returns the favour, mercilessly mocking Gail for her predictability when it comes to ordering food; Holly doesn't think she's ever seen Gail pick anything other than the unhealthiest item on a menu.

But then Holly still smiles a smile that stretches to her eyes at Gail in a way that fills her with warmth, like she actually cares about what she has to say. And Gail still gives a genuine smile back, grateful but also just captivated by this incredible woman in front of her.

And their laughs. There is no question in Gail's mind that Holly has the most beautiful laugh she has ever seen. The way Holly's mouth curls up on one side into a slight smirk, before the laugh breaks forth from her lips as she grins so widely Gail can almost see all her teeth. It is nothing short of mesmerising. Gail herself finds herself incapable of repressing her giggles in the company of the brunette.

It was notable to Gail that when they were friends that their back and forth was always so natural, and it doesn't stop being natural when Holly reaches over to wipe some ice cream off Gail's face, and Gail grabs her hand between her own and strokes it absently but deliberately with her thumb whilst they continue their comfortable repartee. Neither does it stop when Holly leans over and plants a brief but gentle kiss on the blonde's lips to distract her so she can pull the bill from the officer's grasp, nor when they're walking out of the diner and Gail slips her hand into Holly's for the brief walk to the car.

Nothing has really changed; it is different, but it is the same. It is better.


	5. Chapter 5

I.

Holly has only been driving for about five minutes before she notices Gail falling asleep against the window to her right. They had left the diner after hours of talking and Gail ploughing through almost half of the menu in about four different courses. Then they spent ten minutes in the car debating where to go next, Holly insisting on taking Gail home to sleep; she had only had about three hours the previous night, after all, and Gail determined to find a bar near Holly's house. Holly had won, and now, as she looks over at the sleeping blonde, she can't help but smirk a little.

The officer only stirs when the car comes to a halt outside her apartment building.

"Honey…" Holly whispers as she reaches across to stroke the other woman's cheek.

"Mmmm" Gail moans, not opening her eyes.

"You should go to bed."

"Don't wanna."

"I think you need to though."

Gail scrunches up her face before finally opening her eyes, her gaze flicking over Holly's gentle features.

"You come in?" Gail asks, too tired to construct an actual question.

"Of course, if you want me too."

Gail just nods slowly, her eyes falling shut again.

Holly smiles and lets herself out of the car, before moving around to open Gail's door herself from the outside, sensing that the blonde is probably not going to do it for herself.

But apparently she has fallen asleep again because when Holly opens the door Gail jerks from the shock of having her headrest pulled unceremoniously away from her. As she is returned to the land of the living she turns to glare at the taller woman.

"I didn't think you were asleep already." Holly says before the blonde can admonish her, taking her hand and helping her out of the car.

"You know, if you weren't so cute, I'd be kind of upset about you nearly falling asleep on me two nights in a row." Holly muses as Gail snakes an arm around her waist, leaning on her shoulder as the two walk into her apartment building.

"'M not cute." Gail murmurs.

Holly rolls her eyes and smiles knowingly. Protest it all she wants, Gail has the ability to be so ridiculously cute and adorable that she could have Holly wrapped around her little finger if she wanted. Not that Holly has any intention of letting Gail find this out.

It is only when they get into the elevator that Holly realises that she has no idea where Gail's apartment is, having never actually entered the building before, only ever dropping the blonde off or picking her up outside.

"Um, Gail." Holly gestures to the panel on the wall.

Gail is forced from her vacant dozing to lead Holly to her apartment. From the brief flash of the apartment that Holly sees before she is lead into Gail's bedroom, Holly can definitely see why Gail calls it the 'frat house'. There are half empty bottles of liquor lining the kitchen, presumably left over from the night in a couple of weeks ago that Gail had been texting her throughout. The sofa has a couple of blankets dumped unceremoniously over the back, video games are stacked in a couple of very wonky towers near the television and there is a small but noticeable pile of dirty dishes in the sink.

Gail's bedroom is… slightly more orderly. But before Holly has much chance to look around, Gail has let Holly out of the tight grip she had around her waist and collapsed onto the half-made bed. Holly smiles at the woman sprawled before her.

"Don't you think you should maybe take off your boots?" She asks softly.

Gail rolls onto her back in response, letting out a tired groan, before sitting up and complying. When she moves to start taking off her jeans, Holly steps back.

"I should be, uh, heading home then." Holly mumbles, trying not to look at the expanse of pale skin suddenly on show.

"What, no, stay?" Gail looks up at her, a slightly pleading look in her tired eyes.

"Are you sure?"

"If you don't have to go home. I just… I liked waking up with you."

Holly raises an eyebrow in jest. "You just want to feel me up before work again?"

"Maybe. You should be flattered."

"I am. But I'm going to have to head home before work so I'm not sure we'll have much time." Holly smiles. "Do you have anything I can wear to bed?"

Gail locates some clothing in her drawers and passes them to the other woman, before pointing her towards the bathroom to get changed. When she returns, Gail is lying, eyes closed, under the covers

Holly climbs into the other side of the bed. "I knew you'd fall asleep on me."

"I'm not. Was waiting for you." Gail murmurs, her eyes remaining tightly shut as she reaches an arm over to pull Holly into her. She buries her face in the brunette's collar as her arm tightly wraps around her back. Whilst it is not entirely the most comfortable sleeping position ever, there is an intimacy to the embrace which makes that somewhat irrelevant, and so that is how they drift off to sleep, wrapped up in one another.

II.

When Holly wakes up, she can sense eyes on her.

"I knew you couldn't be completely flawless." Gail says, leaning on her elbow as she stares at the other woman with that intense, focussed gaze of hers.

"Huh?" Holly asks, reaching up to rub her eye.

"You talk in your sleep."

Holly looks over at Gail, now able to focus on her properly. "Yeah, well you're a duvet stealer."

"I get cold." Gail shrugs.

"Put some socks on then."

"I do." Gail pulls the covers up to reveal her red cotton covered feet poking out the end of the bed.

"Weirdo." Holly retorts, leaning over to give the other woman a kiss. "What was I talking about?"

"Autopsies mainly. Nerd. You mumbled a lot, it was hard to tell."

"I'll try to enunciate more clearly next time."

Gail responds by pulling her back in for another lethargic kiss.

"I should get going if I'm going to have time to get ready before work." Holly eventually says, receiving the expected Peck pout in response.

"I haven't even had a chance to touch your boob yet." Gail scowls.

Holly grins as she climbs out of the bed. "Well maybe I could pick you up after work tonight? If you promise not to get all sleepy on me again."

"I'll drink coffee all day in preparation."

"You always drink coffee all day, I'm surprised caffeine has any effect on you anymore." Holly says, gathering up her clothes.

"I have to have two triple shots before work some days." Gail replies, a slight hint of pride in her voice.

"I really don't want to know what state your internal organs must be in."

"Well maybe I'll land on your autopsy table one day and you'll be able to find out."

Holly's heart skips a beat, and she feels her face heating up. She notices Gail bite her lip and avert her gaze, recognising Holly's response.

"Don't joke about that, Gail."

Holly liked to think of herself as a relatively calm and collected woman, but two days since a police hunting gunman had shot at Gail was probably not enough time to be making jokes about being killed. If there was ever a good time to do that. "Sorry, I wasn't thinking." Gail offers.

"It's okay. Just… you know, I was really, really scared for you the other day."

"If it makes you feel any better, I was one of the few officers he wasn't actively targeting. So you can at least sit safe in the knowledge that you're dating one the cops at 15 division people actually least want to kill. Or who the general public least want to kill anyway; I'm sure if you took a poll inside the division, the results would probably be the opposite. But they're cops, they're mostly pretty law-abiding citizens, so I'm probably safe."

"We're dating, huh?" Holly asks, her lips curling up into a lopsided smile.

Gail frowns slightly. "That's what you took from that?"

Holly nods, smile still plastered on her face.

"Well… I mean, I couldn't say that we're 'sleeping together', because, well, you know. And I think it would not be a huge assumption to think that we've gone beyond being 'friends'. And last night was kind of a date…" Gail trails off, nervously.

"Oh yeah, well we've been on loads of dates; the wedding, the batting cages, that time we went for ice cream at 2am… I just didn't know if we were 'dating'"

"They weren't dates, they were friends, hanging out. We didn't do anything romantic."

"I kissed you at the wedding." Holly points out.

"Even so. They weren't dates."

"Well then last night wasn't a proper date, we didn't get all dressed up or do anything planned."

"Fine, then maybe we're not dating, we're just two people who fall asleep cuddling each other." Gail shrugs.

"Don't pin that on me Gail, you're definitely the cuddler."

Gail's lips form an indignant pout. "That's a bold faced lie and you know it is."

Holly raises her eyebrows at the memory of the shorter woman wrapping herself tightly around her last night. She walks towards the door, turning to speak before she exits the room. "Don't worry Peck, I won't let any of your friends know that you're such a softie at heart."

She hears something, probably a pillow, hit the door as she shuts it behind her, and smirks slightly.

On her return from the bathroom, she finds Gail making coffee in the kitchen, wrapped in her black and white robe with her hair standing on end.

Holly can't help but sneak up behind her and snake her arms around her waist, planting a kiss on the side of her neck as she does so. She feels the other woman shiver slightly under her touch.

"I've decided I could probably cope with saying we're dating." Holly says into her pale skin. "I have already asked you out tonight, after all."

Gail wriggles and turns around in the embrace to face the pathologist. "Maybe I've changed my mind now."

"Change it back." Holly says, leaning in to capture soft lips with her own for a moment, before pulling back. "Ugh, morning breath." She grimaces.

"Shut up." Gail whispers, placing her hands on the sides of the other woman's face and pulling her back into a deep but soft kiss.

"Gail are you making coffee… Woah!" They are interrupted by a male voice Holly is not well acquainted with.

"What the fuck, Dov?" Gail exclaims as the couple jump apart in surprise.

"Sorry, I had no idea… Hi, Officer Epstein." He reaches his hand out for Holly to shake. "Dr Stewart, right? We've met at crime scenes a couple of times. Not much though, Gail always insists on going to the morgue now if someone has to."

"Dov!" Gail hisses.

He continues unfazed. "Chris thought that you two were sl… uh, that maybe you would be here this morning. Good to meet you properly. I've always found forensic pathology super interesting…"

Sensing that she should maybe cut him off before his verbal diarrhoea lands him on Gail's hit list, Holly shakes his hand. "You can call me Holly. Nice to meet you too." She turns to Gail. "I should probably get going."

Gail has an unimpressed look on her face, and is still glaring at her roommate. "I'll see you out." She says, finally releasing Dov from her glare and turning to give a slightly sympathetic grimace to the other woman.

Once outside the door, Holly can't help but raise an eyebrow. "I knew you ended up in my lab more often than most other officers, but I had no idea you were actually requesting it, couldn't keep away from me, huh?"

"Don't look so smug, it's not hard to be more bearable company than most of my colleagues. Case in point." She says, rolling her eyes and gesturing towards the door. "Maybe we should stay around yours from now on?"

"Bit forward don't you think?"

Gail shrugs. "I'm just helping you avoid those losers. It'll be at least five times worse when Chloe gets out of hospital too. Your place may not have a games console but at least it's private."

Holly smiles. "Fine, my place then. I'll cook dinner tonight. No tomatoes unless they're properly cooked, and no eggs, I know."

"No slipping any of your weird health foods in either, none of that vegetarian crap."

"I'm not vegetarian, I just don't eat red meats."

"Whatever."

"I'll see you after work." Holly leans down for a brief kiss.

"Pick me up?" Gail asks.

"You know chauffeuring isn't part of the agreement here?"

Gail responds with another kiss. "See you later, nerd."

III.

"What the hell was that?" Gail demands as she re-enters the apartment.

Dov looks up from the toast he is buttering. "Huh?"

"Holly and I aren't sleeping together, and you definitely did not need to say that we are in front of her."

"I didn't actually…"

"You pretty much did." Gail cuts him off, raising a hand to stop him talking.

"I did just walk in on you two…"

"Kissing? Yeah, but not all of us screw people in bathroom stalls a couple of hours after meeting them, Dov."

Dov's mouth falls agape. "Chris told you?"

"Chloe did, she was attempting to bond, or something."

"Well… I mean, this is different. You've known Dr Stewart for a few months, I figured if you've been waiting this long to get together, then you'd be ready to jump each other pretty quickly."

"Dov. Please stop talking about me and Holly. Please stop thinking about me and Holly."

Dov doesn't heed her request and continues to muse. "Although, as you do know each other so well, you've got to wonder quite why Holly is interested in a relationship with you."

It is Gail's mouth's turn to fall open this time. Dov has never been an entirely tactful person, but this is a new level.

"No, no, not because you're not good looking or fun or anything. I just mean, well, she seems really nice; a bit reserved some of the time, but always friendly and helpful. You're not very similar, is all I meant."

"Oh, thanks Dov; that was loads nicer." She turns back to her bedroom to get ready for work.

Typical Dov, always so talented at drawing out her insecurities. There had probably been about 18 hours there of feeling like she was truly in a good, happy stable place.

What if Holly did really want to have sex, and Gail just… couldn't give her that. In the past 48 hours she has probably swung from thinking she was definitely ready to being absolutely petrified about six times. And Holly would never, ever pressure her. That's not Holly. But Dov made an annoyingly good point. For all she knows Holly may have wanted this for months. And that level of hope puts on Gail some slightly unwelcome expectations. Expectations that she's going to be good, and ready, and something Holly has waited for.

And Gail can't help but feel slightly concerned about the fact that she isn't in a constant state of desire for Holly. She has been, definitely, when they're together and they're doing stuff. Yesterday morning had left her more worked up than she had expected. But when she's alone and that slight fear at the prospect of diving head first (probably literally, Gail smirks) into the unknown rears its head. It took her first boyfriend weeks to be able to anything noteworthy with her vagina when she took his virginity.

But then, to be fair, she reasons, her first boyfriend didn't have a vagina of his own. For Gail at least it's not the complete unknown, and that's got to count for something. Hopefully. And Holly has already reassured her over the complexities of lesbian sex.

Holly makes the best counter-Dov that Gail has ever met. Just thinking about her has calmed her surfacing uncertainties slightly. It takes quite an impressive amount of influence for Gail to be able to stop herself letting her insecurities escalate in her mind to a dangerous point. But Holly does that. They've been over the sex issue before, and sure, Dov may have a point; maybe Holly would be hoping for, or used to, some mind blowing lady sex. But Holly knows Gail is new to this. She wouldn't have gotten involved with her if she wasn't prepared to have to wait a while for some very awkward, inexperienced fumbling. It's normal to be nervous, about sex with anyone. Sure, it's been a while since Gail has been nervous about sex, she knows that she's pretty capable of giving guys what they want, and she's pretty proud of that. And also she's often drunk the first time she sleeps with them, which kind of kills the nerves. But that doesn't mean it's not normal to be nervous. She will be nervous, until it happens, but that doesn't mean anything. It's normal to be nervous. It doesn't have to mean she has to have some sort of large-scale freak out. It's just sex, and whenever it happens, it will happen.

Gail smiles to herself in the mirror as she pulls on her jacket, so proud at having actually managed to talk herself out of an escalating crisis, and manage, for the first time in a long while to control her emotions in a way that isn't just bottling them up, that she forgets for now Dov's other tactless remark about her mean nature in contrast with Holly's more open friendliness. She'll have to thank Holly later. That definitely deserves thanks.

IV.

Holly has been at work for four hours and heard only a couple of times from Gail. Apparently everyone is back at work today, at least everyone who isn't still in hospital. And Officer Shaw, who was released last night but has a couple of days off. Holly's only ever met him briefly at a few crime scenes, but has heard rather a lot about him, as he is the only one of Gail's co-workers she actually enjoys talking about. She's partnered with officer Diaz again, but Holly guesses from the limited contact that today she is driving.

Her own day is proving to be decidedly uninteresting, the lack of dead bodies or body parts or items possibly belonging to dead bodies meaning that she has to fill her time working on one of her papers. Not that she doesn't find her research immensely interesting, it has just been longer than usual since she's had a dead body on her table, and she's getting antsy.

That was kind of morbid. Thoughts like that are probably the reason she doesn't have many friends aside from Gail. Not that that's ever bothered her.

She is therefore, very pleasantly surprised when a blonde police officer comes marching into her lab bearing a selection of sandwiches, two coffees and a bag of cookies.

Holly smiles and stands up, greeting the woman with a gentle kiss. "I wasn't expecting to see you here today."

"You make a far better lunch buddy than Chris. And you bought dinner last night, so it's only fair."

"Well thank you, I'm very glad you're here. We should go to my office though, we're not actually supposed to eat in the lab." She leads the officer out of the lab and down the hallway.

"You have an office?"

"Yeah, I just use it for storage mainly, I prefer to work in here."

"Mm, surrounded by death?" Gail teases.

"That too weird for you Peck?"

"No, I like it."

"I'm glad." She says, holding open the door to the small room so the other woman can enter. It is a slightly stuffy room, with walls lined with books and journals and a large dark wooden desk at its centre, which Gail dumps their food on. There are three chairs, one Holly's and the others on the other side of the desk for those rare times Holly has to hold meetings in there. She starts to wheel one of them around to her side of the desk so they don't have to sit with the lump of wood between them, but Gail has already perched herself on the desk next to the food..

Holly picks up a coffee and takes a sip, before grimacing. "I think this is yours. You weren't kidding about those triple shots, huh?"

"That's only a double." Gail grins, taking the cup from the other woman.

"Oh. Well I haven't had a strong coffee since I was in med school."

"How do you stay awake through the day?"

Holly shrugs. "Your body doesn't need all that caffeine. I try to limit myself to two coffees a day and then just drink herbal teas for the rest of the day."

"Are there any lesbian stereotypes you don't embody?" Gail asks, her mouth still half full of sandwich, but empty enough that Holly can understand her.

"You're so attractive." Holly grins. "It's not lesbian, it's healthy. Even two cups of coffee a day is quite a lot. And, for the record, I don't drive a pickup, and I've never owned a cat."

Gail's eyes narrow. "I don't really do healthy, just so you know. Or cats, so we're on the same page there."

"Don't worry Gail, I'm not going to start dragging you down the health foods aisle just yet."

"Thank you." Gail grins, leaning down to kiss the other woman lightly on the lips. "How, uh, how old were you when you first had sex with a woman?" She asks after she pulls back.

Holly settles back in her chair. "19, why?"

"I'm just trying to work out how many years catch up I have to do." Gail sips her coffee. "Who was it?"

"My first time? A girl I met at a gay bar, her name was… Lucy, I think."

Gail raises her eyebrows.

"Don't look at me like that. I was just out of the closet and my friend Jeremy took me to a gay bar to meet girls. I was so nervous I stayed at the bar and kept drinking, but Jeremy found her and introduced us, and then the next thing I remember we were at her place having sex."

"Was it good?"

"It… wasn't bad. But it wasn't amazing. I was so nervous the next morning that I just upped and left without getting her number and never saw her again. She wasn't my type, anyway, I was just so excited that another girl actually wanted to sleep with me that I went along with it."

"When did it, you know, get good?" Gail asks, taking a cookie from the bag and starting to eat it.

"I guess with my first girlfriend, when I was 20. Georgia; the one who was already a med student." She says, referring back to an earlier conversation about exes when the two were just friends.

Gail continues her irreverent questioning. "How long did you wait, when you were dating her, before you slept with her?"

"Jesus Gail, have you got an endless stream of questions in there?" Holly smiles lopsidedly, also taking a cookie from the bag. "I can't remember exactly. Maybe three weeks."

"Sorry, I just was wondering. For reference or something?"

Holly tilts her head slightly. "You mean you were wondering how long it was going to be before I expected to have sex?"

Gail looks down and nods slightly. "I guess. It was just something Dov said earlier. It was stupid, and I talked myself out of blowing it out of proportion, which is kind of rare for me, but I couldn't help but wonder…?"

"What did he say?"

"He implied that because we were friends before, we must have been wanting to sleep together for a while, so he thought that when we got together we would have had sex straight away. Primal desires and all that." Gail looks up deeply at Holly to read her response carefully. But the brunette just scoffs a little.

"Well that's a flawed reasoning. Loads of people put off sex for a while even when they really want to have it."

"But you do, really want to have it?" Gail's endless questioning suggests a degree of vulnerability and apprehension, but her tone is one more of intrigue than worry.

Holly bites her lip and leans back. "I... it's only been two days, I haven't had the time to put much thought into it."

Gail narrows her eyes.

"Obviously, yes, I do." She continues. "I'm very attracted to you, and everything we've done so far has been... amazing, more than amazing. But it's not... it's very fresh. We're very fresh, and it's all new for you. I haven't, and I wouldn't put any expectations on anything this new. I've never gone there with anyone after less only two days of dating though." Not that she has ever been in a relationship anything like this one has been so far, Holly notes internally. "All I really can say is that I don't want you to feel pressured. At all. I don't expect anything from you, not ever, definitely not after two days."

Gail sniggers. "Two days is already pretty much the longest I've waited, except maybe my first boyfriend. With Nick it was about minus three months. I'm kind of a sex first, emotions later, sort of girl."

Holly laughs lightly to disguise her slight sadness at Gail's history of struggling to feel safe opening herself up to people emotionally. She's so spectacular to Holly, she doesn't understand how so many people have brought themselves to hurt her.

"I think I'm over freaking out about vaginas though." Gail observes, and Holly sprays cookie crumbs as she bursts out into laughter at the unexpected comment. Although with Gail, no comment should really be that unexpected, Holly reasons.

"Gross, Holly." Gail whines, flicking crumbs off her pants.

"I'm sorry, but what on earth do you mean?"

"I meant that even though I am kind of nervous, I'm normal nervous." She pauses, her brow furrowed in concentration. "The idea of sex with you is more exciting than terrifying. I mean, I can't guarantee that I'm not going to get down there and draw a complete blank as to what to do. But I'm more nervous about failing to meet your expectations than sex with women in general. I was a little, before I kissed you but now..." She trails off, her pale skin making obvious the pink twinge on her cheeks and ears.

"I make you nervous?" Holly reaches up and takes Gail's hand in her own

"Yeah I mean, you have… what, fourteen years of experience I don't have? You're sexy and smart and a bit of a seasoned veteran. I'm a rookie again. And I really hated being a rookie."

"I'm really not that impressive. Don't be nervous of me. You make me nervous."

"I do?"

"Yeah. Have you seen you? I mean, you say I'm sexy but you… you're effortlessly gorgeous. And you intimidate people, you have their respect. And you're out on the streets fighting crime all day, that's pretty hardcore; I spend all day cutting up dead people. I'm kind of a weirdo."

"We're both kind of weirdos, Holly." Gail retorts, pulling Holly into a standing position between her legs. One hand reaches up behind her neck to pull her down into a kiss. It still astonishes her, the ease with which their lips work together.

When their tongues meet, Holly pulls Gail onto her feet without breaking their kiss, the leaning she had to do to meet Gail's lips when she was sat down causing a light ache in her lower back.

Gail's hand that isn't snaking up into her hair from the base of her neck slips around her waist, holding them tightly together. Holly's hands run up and down the sides of her bullet proof vest, cursing the thick material that is keeping her hands from being able to feel the woman's soft curves. Her hatred for the inanimate object increases more when Gail's hand slips under her shirt, tracing the hot skin of her lower back. Her own relinquish their vain attempt to feel Gail's torso, falling instead to knead her buttocks.

Gail groans at the sensation, pushing into Holly until her back hits the bookcase. Holly's hands reach up to cup her cheeks as the kiss breaks.

"You may be ready but we probably shouldn't have sex right here." Holly sighs, leaning her forehead against Gail's, their noses brushing against each other.

"Maybe not."

"You look really sexy in this thing, but it sure is impractical when it comes to actually doing stuff." Holly observes, pulling on the shoulders of Gail's bullet proof vest.

"I'll remember not to wear it tonight."

"We're still on for dinner, then?"

"Of course." Gail reaches up to kiss her again. "And then whatever happens after that."

"We'll see where the night leads us. You might pass out on me again."

"I promise you that won't be a problem. But aside from that, I don't want to promise anything else. It feels right, but I guess it is kind of soon."

"We'll just do what feels right to us." Holly says softly.

"You're amazing." Gail looks deeply into her eyes, like she's staring into her soul, and Holly feels herself melting under the gaze.

"You still want me to pick you up from work?"

"Yeah please. Actually, no, maybe from home? I'll text you when I get off shift and then maybe give me half an hour."

"Sure." Holly smiles, dipping down to kiss her gently.


	6. Chapter 6

I.

She doesn't know if it's because they don't know, they don't care, or because after four years of working together her colleagues have finally learnt not to question her on her private life, but Gail has had to deal with no questions about Holly all day. The combination of that, the fact that they on patrol rather than issuing speeding fines, and the fading of her coldness towards Chris as she lay in Holly's arms last night has actually led to a relatively good day at work. Her visit to the morgue at lunch boosted that 'relatively good' to 'solidly good'.

She has one more shift tomorrow, starting at 6am, but that at least means she won't be on shift on Friday evening, then both days of the weekend off, which itself is cause for a minor celebration. Then most of next week she'll be on nights.

So, that last bit's not ideal, but it's four days away, Gail's certainly not dwelling on it right now. Even that's not all bad, because on Monday, Oliver comes back to work. And Steve's latest intel from Mother Peck is that they are going to wait a week or so until they offer him the Staff Sergeant position. Ensure his faculties are still all there, that he's still up for the job. Whilst that does mean one more week of Jarvis, it also means one more week of working with Oliver while he's still a beat cop.

Maybe some part of Gail's cynical side has snuck off into the shadows over the past few days, or maybe this is all just actually good news, but either way, she is definitely seeing the positive side of everything about the next week. By the time Holly texts her to let her know that she is waiting outside her apartment that evening, Gail is practically buzzing. When she sees the way Holly openly checks her out as she approaches in her tightest black jeans, the ones she had in mind to change into when she asked Holly to pick her up from her apartment instead of the precinct, she hits levels of happiness not experience in a long, long time.

"Why is your mother telling you about the Staff Sergeant recruitment, surely that's kind of classified information?" Holly asks, as they sit on her sofa after dinner, drinking wine and discussing their days. Really, really nice wine. Definitely nicer than anything Gail has ever bought, except maybe for her mother's dinner parties.

"It is. Steve has this theory that she likes to tell us supposedly secret information about what's happening at the division to remind us that she always knows what's going on, to scare us into not messing up because she'll find out and find some passive aggressive way to ruin our lives."

"Like a Panopticon?"

"The shape?"

"No, that's a pentagon. It's a prison design that Michel Foucault used to develop social theory about mechanisms of control?"

Gail just raises her eyebrows in bewilderment.

"The Panopticon was a prison design, with tower in the middle with blacked out windows that overlooked the prisoners all the time, so even though they couldn't see if they were being watched all the time, they would behave as if they were. Foucault suggested that this was a kind of a metaphor for how human populations are controlled even when no-one's actually watch…"

Gail leans towards Holly and plants a gentle kiss on the other woman's lip, shutting her up. "You're such a nerd. How on earth do you know that stuff?"

"My first year roommate was a philosophy major, I used to find her courses so interesting when she talked about them, so I read books every now and then when I have some down time." Holly shrugs.

"You read philosophy books in your down time? And you used to talk to your roommate about your courses? I just used to get really drunk with mine."

"Not just philosophy, whatever interests me; there's so much stuff to learn out there. I find it incredible that one person is never going to know more than a fraction of humankind's collective knowledge. And my roommate was an incredibly interesting girl, for your information."

Gail's eyes narrow. "You fancied her, didn't you?"

Holly turns a very light shade of pink. "Only a little bit, in a closeted 18 year old kind of way."

A smirk emerges on Gail's lips, but it soon disappears as she runs her tongue across her lips absentmindedly, concentrating on what Holly was saying before she cut her off.

"So that whole Pentoptagon thing…" She starts.

"Panopticon." Gail scowls at Holly's interruption, and the brunette raises her hands in a mock apology, while her face contorts itself into a lopsided smile, as it so often does when Gail tries to give her best glares.

"Whatever. Basically you were saying that it's a way that the people are controlled into behaving as the establishment wants? That's kind of radical isn't it?"

"I guess, but it's just a theory. I find philosophy super interesting but I don't necessarily prescribe to all of it." She purses her lips in thought refills her glass of wine. "There is a slightly more than theoretical basis to the Panopticon though, it is basically exactly how the Gestapo operated."

Gail's brow is still furrowed in concentration. "So… you're saying that my mother is like the Gestapo."

Holly bites her lip and narrows her eyes, trying to think of an appropriate answer. "I suppose I may have suggested they have similar methods. Sorry."

"No, it's alright." Gail grins and Holly doesn't think she's ever seen anyone look more happily devious. "I can't wait to introduce you to her."

Holly raises her eyebrows questioningly.

"You are so smart, she is not going to know what to do with herself."

Holly gives a half exasperated laugh. "Well I'm glad I get to be a pawn in this ongoing Peck family battle of one-upmanship."

"You're way better than a pawn, you're… a King. You're a game changer."

Holly's eyes follow her as she takes the pathologist's wine glass from her hands, placing it next to her own on the coffee table.

"Actually the King is kind of weak in chess, it's the Queen who's the most powerful piece; the King pretty much just needs protecting the whole game, that's kind of the point…"

"Shut up, Holly." Holly looks into Gail's eyes, and Gail feels her breath hitch. Her eyes dart from the brunettes lips to her darkening eyes and back again.

Holly has frozen. but there is no need to move, because Gail is in charge of this. She absorbed every one of Holly's words, catching all their meanings; intended and subliminal, stowing them away, but there is something increasingly taking over her mind that means she can't process them right now. A dark, deep blue something. A pure and unrivalled intelligence. A sceptical raising of the eyebrows and a playful smirk. A pair of dark chocolate eyes unwavering in their current undertaking to see right into the dark pits of her soul.

She doesn't consciously lean in to meet Holly's plush, full lips with her own, but she knows that it is happening and that she had every intention of doing it before she got so lost flickering her eyes over the soft features of her face.

And when it happens, it is everything she expected and more. They had kissed before; they had kissed softly, and passionately, and innocently, and slightly viciously, and deeply, and chastely, and firmly, and tenderly. But never before have so many of those adverbs been applicable at once. Never before have they kissed with this intensity. Never before have they melted into one another so wholly; never before have they melted into anyone so wholly.

And then there is need. Need which leads Gail to instinctively twist so she is no longer sat to the side of the object of her affection but instead straddling her leg and gently guiding her to lie back into some of the many cushions adorning Holly's furniture. Need which is making the blood burn hot through their arteries from their head to their toes. Need which is pulsating between their legs even though their hands remain rooted in each other's hair rather than working to evoke reactions through the touching of bare skin. But desire that is not so overwhelming that it consumes them and pulls them abruptly in one direction along that spectrum of love and lust. Not that it so much a spectrum but a complex web of emotions and interactions.

But whatever it is, whilst the need is unquestionably present, there is a sizable assortment of competing instincts and feelings preventing it from becoming all-consuming just yet. It is desire, but a desire in a multitude of incarnations.

One is Gail's aspiration to take in everything about this moment in its slow, beautiful entirety. Another, her aim to explore every part of Holly's entity; every physical feature, every movement and every reaction. And, most prominently of all, is her desire to not consummate whatever is between them on a night she doesn't have the time to do both of the above.

But whilst Gail's resolve means it can't be a kiss of wandering hands and attempts to stimulate and tease and satisfy, it is still a kiss of intensity. Because of their gentle movements; slow but not languorous, like every little thing they do is to express how much they care, and they can both feel that. Because of the way that when their tongues brush against one another they simultaneously release loud, uncontrollable moans that reverberate right the way through to their cores. Because of the way they can feel the heat from each other's arousal pressing against their thighs, for the first time displaying to both women the true nature of the effect they have on the other. But mostly because of the way that they looked into each other's eyes and could see each other falling at such a rate that nothing could stop them, and nothing will bring them back up. It is inescapable, and neither of them cares, as long as they're doing it together.

After what feels like an eternity and yet also no time at all, Gail pulls back and looks down at the woman underneath her, still not used to her hair not falling forwards to block the world out when she looks down like this.

"That was…" Holly whispers.

"Yeah." Gail breathes.

"You're something special."

"You… I can't believe how hot that was. I really wanted to touch you but I thought that probably wouldn't be conducive to me actually sleeping in my own bed tonight."

"You're not staying?" Holly's face falls slightly.

Gail gently drops another kiss onto the other woman's lips and Holly releases a loud breath in response. "I want to, believe me. I start at 6am tomorrow, I don't want to wake you up when I leave."

"I wouldn't mind."

"Also I can't really afford to spend all night doing stuff with you, which I would probably do if I stayed; I need my beauty sleep. But I'm off all weekend, if you are."

"Yeah."

"Good." Gail smiles, and settles between Holly and the back of the sofa, tracing her fingers over Holly's jeans as she rests her head on her shoulder.

"So what kind of stuff were you thinking?"

Gail frowns, and tilts her head up to meet Holly's questioning gaze. "I thought that much was obvious?"

"Oh right, so you were telling the truth earlier?"

"When I said that I'm over being freaked out…"

"Yes, you don't have to repeat it." Holly says hastily.

The frown hasn't left Gail's face, this conversation is baffling in so many ways. "I wouldn't have had you down as one of those prudes who can't say vagina."

"I'm not! I love everything about vaginas, the name included. It was just… kind of a crude way of wording it, and I didn't want to ruin the moment."

"I'm a habitual moment-ruiner, Holly, you're going to have to get used to it. And of course I was telling the truth. I want to have sex with you. After that little dalliance I know that even more than I did earlier."

"Dalliance?" Holly asks, eyebrows raised.

"Sh, I'm talking. What I meant when I told you that was that I'm not going to have classic Gail freak out about it. You've done nothing but make sure I'm comfortable, and I am, you make me comfortable. But I was trying to make sure you feel comfortable."

Now it's Holly's turn to be confused. "How do you mean?"

"Remember when I couldn't touch your boob and you told me you wanted me to be comfortable touching you? Well you haven't touched my boob, you're so scared I'm going to run that you're not just doing what comes naturally."

"What, so you want me to touch your boob?"

Gail sits up, realising the unintended genius to Holly's suggestion.

Holly props herself up on her elbows. "Yes, I think you should touch my boob. To get over being uncomfortable. When I touched your boob it showed me that you wanted me to and that it wasn't going to spontaneously combust in my hand or something terrible like that. So if you touch my boob, it will show you I'm not going to run."

Holly is fighting so hard to not burst out into fits of laughter that Gail can see her shaking.

But Gail remains steadfast, a deadly serious look on her face, her penetrating gaze showing no signs of succumbing to the bizarre hilarity of the situation. She just continues blinking, unwavering, until Holly finally gives in and responds.

"I… that's completely absurd."

"No, it makes sense. Touch my boob, Holly."

"Just… here? Whilst we're sat like this. No build up or anything?"

Gail shuffles to sit more upright, turning slightly to lean against the back of the sofa with her legs draped over Holly's. "Yeah, just a simple, over the bra boob touch, I'll even keep my shirt on, which is more than you were wearing when I touched yours. Both times. Come on Holly, this is like a level one lesbian activity, my first boyfriend Justin did it, and he was fourteen."

Holly sighs. "Fine, Gail, I'll touch your boob."

Gail's face lights up in triumph. "Don't sound like it's such a hardship."

Holly adjusts her position so she is also sat upright, and reaches out tentatively, before pulling back slightly.

"This is weird. It's like the least sexy way to touch a boob." She says, her hand hovering awkwardly between them.

Gail shakes her head lightly. "No, Justin was about as unsexy as this."

"Was he the boob biter?"

"We were fourteen, I let him grope me lightly over my clothes, not get near them with his mouth!"

"Right yeah. Sounds like you have a whole wealth of history of bad boob experiences."

"Exactly, so you really have no reason to be scared. There is virtually no chance of you being anywhere near the worst. Just do it. Do you want me to take your hand and guide you like you did to me, because I will." Gail looks at her earnestly.

"No, fine, I'll do it."

Gail offers an encouraging smile as the hand reaches out and lightly grazes her right boob, lingering there as Holly looks at her with a mystified expression.

"That's what you've got? A whole fourteen years of lesbian experiences and that's what you're giving me. I barely felt that."

Holly rolls her eyes and takes a hold of the soft flesh under her palm, moving her hand to stroke the entire rounded mass from top to bottom, where she stops.

Gail's tongue darts out to moisten her lips.

"Like that?"

"Yeah, something like that." Gail croaks, and Holly starts to stroke the breast with her thumb. Words escape her as her nipple hardens against the many layers of clothes between herself and Holly.

"That was… unfair. You're a tease." Gail protests, her voice low.

"Well, I really do hate to play this game but you started it, Gail."

"I know, I just wasn't expecting…" Gail snaps out of her daze, shaking her head. "See, it worked, we crossed a boundary and now you know that I'm not going to freak out if you touch me. So in the future, you can touch me without worrying."

"I know that's how it works in theory, but what if I take it a step to far?" Holly argues.

"You won't, because I'm not scared of this, of anything, right the way down to scissoring or whatever, if that's actually a thing- I've received conflicting messages; everything."

Holly still looks slightly worried though, so Gail reaches out and strokes her cheek.

"You're not going to scare me off, Holly. I don't know if you can tell from the fact that I cannot keep my hands off of you but I am into it. All the lesbian stuff, I it's working for me. It feels right, normal. I don't see how you could scare me off when everything we've done has just felt so... right."

Holly nods slowly "It feels right to me too."

"And I promise, I'll tell you if we're going somewhere I don't want to go yet. It's how this whole dating thing works. I know I'm not the world's best communicator but even I know that dating isn't any fun if you're constantly scared of each other."

"You promise?"

"I do."

"Okay..." She pauses, "I will too, for the record. Tell you if we're going too fast."

"Good." Gail nods contentedly, leaning in for a chaste kiss. "I should call Chris, he said he'd give me a lift home."

"Sorry, if I knew you weren't staying I wouldn't have had a drink. I can pay for a taxi if you want?" Holly says apologetically.

"It's okay, he owes me anyway for telling Dov he thought we were sleeping together. And I don't take taxis anymore, after… you know." They had spoken, briefly, when they were friends about the abduction. Only for Gail to confirm that Holly had heard about it, as of course, working with police officers every day, she had. She hadn't regaled the details to the brunette. And Holly hadn't pushed for them. Gail liked that, with Holly it was a thing that 'just was'. If Gail wanted to talk about it, she could, but if she wanted to ignore it, as she usually did, she could also do that, without feeling like she was hiding anything.

"Well he wasn't far off, we have slept in the same bed."

"I'd say he's currently about 2 bases off." Gail says, gesturing towards her breast.

Holly gives her a light shove to the shoulder before standing up. "Call your roommate, Peck."

II.

Twenty minutes later, they are parting with goodnight kisses and promises that Gail will text when she's safely home.

The drive home is quiet, Gail watches the lights around them increase in number as they head deeper into the city.

"You have a good evening?" Chris asks, eventually.

Gail shrugs. "Yep." Pleasantries were never really her thing. She never saw the point, you can tell from the look on someone's face if they've had a good day or not. People either ask if you're okay to just be polite, or because they have something they really want to tell you about their day. And Gail would really rather they just tell you, even though most of the time she has no interest in hearing it, rather than fanny around pretending to care about yours. Why not be honest, and just tell them what you want to say? Gail Peck may not be many things, but she is certainly honest, and she can pride herself on that. Some say 'brutally honest', but it is honesty nonetheless.

People care too much about what other people think about the insignificant parts of their lives.

Her friends often seem to think that she doesn't care what anyone thinks about her at all. And that's not true, she cares when people who are supposed to be her friends think she's entitled, or that she's heartless, or that she's somehow not as good or deserving as everyone else. But she doesn't care whether the average man on the street thinks she has no manners, or what her colleagues think of her diet. There's a difference that people seem to struggle to grasp.

Christ interrupts her contemplations. "Traci called to suggest we go to the Penny tomorrow night. She said she tried to call you but it went to voicemail."

That was true. Holly had been in the middle of a story about the last guy she ever dated. The poor, unsuspecting guy was the fall guy in so many of Holly's more entertaining stories about discovering her sexuality. Gail would've felt bad for him if it wasn't so funny. So yes, she hadn't picked up Traci's call. But when she never tried to phone again, Gail supposed it can't have been that important.

"Oh right, I must have missed it, I didn't hear it ring." Okay, so she may not be completely honest all the time, but Chris is the moral police and this is such a trivial issue she really doesn't need to argue with him over it.

"Yeah. So are you coming?"

"To the Penny?"

Chris nods. "Yeah."

"I'll probably be with Holly."

"You could bring her." Chris suggests.

Gail lets out a short laugh. More like a bark, than a laugh really. "Yeah, right, like I'm going to introduce you to her animals. She's already had one run-in with Dov, that's enough interaction for the year." She scoffs.

"You think you'll still be together in a year?" Chris asks, half surprised, half slightly excited.

"It's a turn of phrase, Chris." Gail groans.

"Come on Gail, you should come, everyone's going to be there, except Chloe and Sam, obviously, but everyone else. You, me, Dov, Traci..."

"You almost had me at 'except Chloe' but no, thank you."

Chris ignores her interruption. "…Steve, Nick, Andy…"

"Nick and Andy! Really!" She says with her best sarcastic cheeriness "You're really doing a good job of selling this one to me Chris, do continue."

"…Oliver..."

That caught her attention.

"Oliver's going to be there?" She tries to play it cool.

"Yeah, it was his idea."

Gail ponders it for a moment. "I guess I could come. For an hour or so. Then go to Holly's. I'll have to check she didn't have anything planned for us. But okay. Yeah. Maybe."

"Great!" Chris grins cheerily. "It's gonna be so cool; the gang back together again!"

"We never split up, Chris." Gail points out.

"Yeah, but it feels like so long since we've all been around and everything hasn't been about this shooting. And even before that, we weren't really all together like we used to be, what with you not talking to Andy, but now she's back with Sam..."

"I'm not going to suddenly decide to like her because she's no longer screwing my ex-boyfriend, Chris. That doesn't change the fact that it happened."

"And you're seeing Holly?" Chris offers.

"Doesn't stop it being a dick move and a stab in the back." Gail shrugs. And it doesn't. Nick, she's over, she could probably cope with being back on speaking terms with him in the near future, now he's no longer sleeping with the girl he fancied while they were together. She can't forgive him for that but she doesn't feel angry at him anymore. She can't exactly lie and say that it's not helping that she's happy with Holly and he's slightly heart broken, but she's been over him for a while; before Holly, and before Andy left him.

But Andy broke the code. No two ways about it. She had Gail's trust, Gail did nothing to push Andy into doing something to hurt her –something she can't exactly say about Nick-, and she did it anyway. Gail Peck doesn't really have much experience with friendship, but even she knows that's what Andy pulled was a straight up violation of the rules that govern how friends treat one another.

"Okay, well it feels like a reunion to me. We'll all be there, without our boyfriends and girlfriends, except Traci who'll bring the detective she's dating…"

"She certainly has a type." Gail muses.

"It'll be like we're rookies again!"

Gail frowns. "I'm not going to sleep with you again if that's what you're trying to suggest."

"I know!"

He looks over and sees Gail is not sharing in his excitement.

"Well I'm looking forward to it, even if you aren't!"

But Gail is already lost to him, her mind back on Holly, and their agreement to communicate. That's a new one. Communication. And it actually doesn't feel terrible. It feels good. It feels safe. It feels like trust. Okay, maybe she's not one hundred percent ready to open herself up and trust right at this present moment. She can thank McNally for that one. But she's getting there. Very close to there. But communication, that's new.

III.

Three hours into Gail's shift, she hears from Holly for the first time that day.

Holly: Just got into work ;-) How's the early shift going?

Gail: Long. Weird waking up without your babbling this morning

Holly: Was going to say it was nice to wake up under the covers, thief

Gail: Ha! Original

Holly: Don't pretend like yours was a comedic masterpiece

Gail: It was and you know it was

Holly: Do you have any plans for tonight? I usually order in on Fridays, may let you have some of my mango salad

Gail: Crap, said I'd go to the Penny for Oliver's 'I'm alive' party tonight. Meant to be going at 8, maybe could come to yours at 9.30ish. Would probably need a lift though?

Holly: :-(

Holly: That's okay, you have a night with your friends, we've seen loads of each other this week

Gail: No, I want to see you more than them

Holly: We can see each other tomorrow. And at lunch because I bought last night's leftovers in and there's enough for two (even if one of the two is you, yes)

Gail: Definite yes to lunch. But I'm seeing you tonight, even if I have to not drink and steal a squad car to get there!

Holly: Okay, I'll pick you up. Pls don't steal a squad car, don't want our night to be interrupted by you getting arrested.

Gail: You're the best

Holly: I know. But I'll wait until you text me, so you can stay later if you want. No pressure for you to come if you change your mind

Gail: Highly unlikely. Can't wait until lunch! Also save me a spring roll later, but no veggie crap

Holly: Shrimp?

Gail: It'll do.


	7. Chapter 7

I.

Despite Gail's earlier assurances as they ate lunch that she would be sick of her friends within an hour and that Holly should expect a text at about 9pm asking to be picked up, it is close to 11 by the time her phone rings. Not that Holly is waiting on tenterhooks for the call; as she settles down to catch up on her research after eating half of the Thai food she had ordered for dinner –suspecting that a drunk Gail may need more than just a couple of spring rolls to satisfy that seemingly endless appetite- she realises that spending most of her free time that week with the blonde has caused her to fall further behind than she had expected. Which raises questions Holly doesn't really want to answer about what proportion of her days had been spent on various work projects instead of socialising before Gail had entered so fervently into her life.

So when Gail's caller id pops up on the screen of her phone, she herself is so engrossed in her work that she has no perception of how long it has been since she settled down to work. The slight slur and unusual vigour to the voice on the other end gives her a slight idea, though.

"Doctor Stewart." It says.

Holly feels her lips curling up into a smile at the sound of the other woman's voice. "Officer Peck. What can I do for you?"

There is a slight pause before she replies. "Are you angry?"

Holly's brow furrows in confusion. "Why would I be angry?"

"You called me Officer Peck."

"You called me Doctor Stewart."

"I did?"

"Yep." Holly smirks slightly.

She pauses again. "Oh, okay, that's cool then." And another pause. "I don't have dementia, I told everyone I was leaving so they kept buying me drinks. Loads of drinks. Nick got me at leeeaaaast three." She drags out the word, jumping at least an octave in pitch. "Maybe he wants to get back together now Andy's gone again." Holly's eyes narrow as she wonders where this may be going, but remains quiet, waiting for Gail to get there on her own. "But why would I do that when I've got you? Nick's stupid if he thinks he's better than you."

A faint smile re-emerges on her face. "Thank you, Gail."

"I mean it, you're my favourite. And you don't know it, because you can't kiss you, but you're a really good kisser. You're like magic, like POW!" Gail's voice suddenly disappears and Holly hears a loud crashing sound then a slightly scuffling.

Then Gail's voice is back again. "I dropped my phone. I was doing an explosion with my arms, which is stupid because you can't see me… you should see me, we should FaceTime!"

"I don't have an iPhone, Gail."

"Skype?"

"I think just talking like this is fine for now."

"Are you sure? I have the app and everything."

"I'm sure."

Gail hums softly on the other end of the line.

"Do you remember the first time we kissed?" Gail asks, eventually.

"Of course I do."

"I thought for ages that you forgot because you were drunk or something, because you never said anything about it."

"I was slightly drunk, but I didn't mention it because I didn't want to scare you off. I liked you, and I thought if I kissed you, maybe if you liked me too you'd say something, but you never said anything so I just left it. I also did it to shut you up though, remember, you kept asking all those ridiculous questions." Honestly Holly has no idea how much of that kiss really was to shut Gail up and throw her off her game, even though it obviously had that effect. Looking back, she remembers Gail's incessant questioning and her complete lack of inhibition when it came to so naturally firing insults at her, being so cute and intriguing that with that much champagne in her system there was really very little chance of Holly not kissing her.

Gail ponders this for a few moments before responding. "I'm drunk now too." She eventually says fervently.

"I'd guessed that."

"Will you still pick me up even though I'm drunk?" She asks solemnly.

"As long as you promise not to throw up in my car."

"I promise." Holly can almost hear Gail nodding on the other end of the line.

"Then I can pick you up. Do you want me to come now?"

"Please. These guys are losers. They tricked me with those free drinks. I wanted to be with you."

"I'm on my way. See you soon. Maybe don't have anything more to drink before I get there."

"It's out of my control. People just keep giving them to me." Gail replies earnestly.

Holly sighs slightly, but can't help an amused smirk appearing on her lips. "Whatever you say honey, I'll be there soon."

"Thank you."

Holly waits to see if Gail is going to end the phone call as she pulls on her jacket, but hears only the soft sound of the blonde's breathing for a few long moments, until the faint but clear sound of a door opening and a distant hum of background chatter can be heard on the other end of the line, and an excited male voice speaks.

"Hey Gail, are you coming back in?"

"Yeah, yeah, in a minute."

"Cool, hurry up, Traci's destroying Dov at darts!" The door shuts again before Gail has time to reply, silencing the background noise once again.

"That was Chris, I should head back inside." Gail says into the phone. "Are you on your way?"

"I'm just about to put on my shoes then I'll be out the door. I'll see you soon." Holly finds herself smiling uncontrollably at the prospect of seeing the officer again. Even if she is somewhat intoxicated. And they saw each other at lunch. And every evening for the last four nights. It should worry her that she feels this way this quickly, but the reality of how Gail gets her heart racing makes any kind of worrying nigh impossible.

"Hurry up!"

"I am, I'll be quicker once I put the phone down!"

Gail huffs audibly. "Fine." Holly can imagine her pout and it only stretches her smile wider. "I'm hanging up, get a move on, I miss you!"

"Bye Gail!" Holly manages to get in just before she hears the beep of the call being killed, although whether or not Gail heard her is a mystery to the brunette. That uncontrollable smile lingers on her expression as she gets into her car and starts the drive to the Penny.

II.

When she pulls up at the bar, Holly is instantly struck with a dilemma she hadn't previously considered; whether or not to enter the building and greet Gail in front of her friends. Or more precisely, whether or not Gail wants her to enter the building and greet her.

She decides it's probably safer to settle just for texting the blonde to alert her to her arrival, but when, five minutes after sending the initial text, she has received no response, she realises she's probably going to have to enter the bar, whether Gail wants her to or not.

Inside, Holly immediately spots the distinctive platinum blonde hair of her girl at the bar, talking to Detective Nash. Unlike Nash, Holly notes, Gail doesn't have a drink in her hands.

She realises that this is probably one of the better scenarios that Holly could have entered into; Traci has already seen Gail being more intimate -emotionally at least- with Holly than any of their other workmates. Not that Holly is really sure what she is so nervous about; Gail has already told her that most of her workmates know about them, and doesn't particularly care if the others find out, so long as they don't make a big deal about it.

Still, she finds herself only approaching Gail and the Detective tentatively, but Gail notices her before she reaches them and breaks out into a smile, putting Holly's nerves to rest somewhat.

Traci turns to see what has caused the sudden change in Gail's expression, and her lips too curl into a smile when she spots the source of the blonde's happiness. "Doctor Stewart."

"Holly, please."

"Holly. I didn't know you were joining us for a drink?" Traci asks.

"I… uh, I'm not… I'm actually just here to pick up Gail." Holly replies, unsure of whether or not Gail was expecting her to hang around, as she steps next to the Officer, who places a hand on her lower back, in a way that would be hard for many of the other officers in the room to spot unless they really looked, but still manages to reassure Holly that Gail is glad of her presence. "We can hang around for a while longer if you want?" She asks.

Gail shakes her head. "Take me home."

"Okay." Holly smiles. "Do you have a jacket?"

Gail scrunches her face up in thought, a look that doesn't pass Traci's notice. "It's with Steve, I'll grab it for you." The Detective says, and Holly offers a thankful smile in response as she leaves the pair alone at the bar.

"How many drinks did you have exactly?" Holly asks.

Gail shrugs. "Lost count, had to make this whole thing bearable somehow." She replies as she fiddles with the belt of Holly's coat. "Did you save me some take out?"

"Really? You can't remember if you brought a jacket but you remember what I was having for dinner?" Holly leans across and pinches her side.

"I never forget food Holly. Did you?"

"Yes."

"You're the best."

"Well I didn't want to have to deal with a drunk, hungry, cranky Gail for the first night of our weekend." Holly teases.

"Maybe cranky Gail will go home with Chris and Dov instead." Gail pouts.

"We both know that's not going to happen." Holly smirks, resisting every urge to lean over and plant a gentle kiss on those lips.

Traci re-emerges, Gail's jacket over her forearm, putting a halt to their gentle teasing. She chucks the jacket at the officer, who removes her hand from Holly's back to catch it. Holly instantly misses the touch, as light as it had been.

"You're off?"

Gail nods in reply.

"Well, have a good weekend." A wide smile stretches across Traci's face, and a glint of something Holly can't quite place sparks in her eye. What Holly can read though, is Gail's exasperated eye roll.

"Holly, will you tell her we're not just going to be banging all weekend?" Gail asks, reminding the two brunettes once again of the level of her intoxication. But whilst Traci releases a barely contained stifle, Holly blinks, finding herself in the rare situation of being unsure quite how to respond to the blonde. She's never been around a drunk Gail when she wasn't equally intoxicated (night of the great hair massacre notwithstanding) and she couldn't deny, if she's being truly honest, that she had been curious what the effects of a large volume of alcohol would be on her (at least, when she wasn't at her emotional breaking point). From this last minute or so, it would seem that the sober bluntness remains, but the determination to keep people out of her life no matter what the cost does not.

In the face of silence, Gail continues, ignoring Holly's slight tugging on her shirt. "Tell her. She thinks we've been screwing each other all week. Tell her we haven't done it yet."

"Gail…" Holly says softly.

"Holly." Gail whines.

Holly somehow manages to resist the pout she has come to adore so much, and turns to Traci. "We should get going."

Traci nods, smile still plastered on her face. "Probably."

"I'll see you soon, hopefully. Well, not hopefully because if I see you it usually means there's been a homicide, but, you know…"

"Shut up, nerd." Gail cuts off Holly's rambling, takes her arm and drags her towards the door. "Bye Trace!" She shouts without looking back.

III.

They don't really talk during the drive home, more due to Gail's singing and dancing along to the radio than because of a lack of things to say.

Holly can't help but glance over at the woman next to her more often than is probably safe, slightly entranced by her ridiculous moves. Gail's ability to look completely ludicrous and not care what anyone thinks of her –an odd trait when paired with her emotional reservedness, which makes Holly wonder quite when she became so detached in her relationships- whether she is drunk or sober, only intensifies the enchantment she has Holly under. When she first observed that indifference in the blonde was when she realised how good friends they would become. She'd spent her life seeking out people who embraced weirdness, and here she'd managed to somehow find someone who not only did that with fervour, but also with stunning beauty. A stunning beauty that somehow remains when she is pulling faces into the invisible mic she is singing into.

It is one of the only things they really had in common, that unabashed oddness; but somehow that was enough. It isn't an issue, it just makes everything else so much more interesting. She is forever discovering new things about Gail. Like the fact that she can sing. That is a new discovery of this car journey.

"We should go dancing!"

Holly doesn't hear the first time Gail makes the declaration, not expecting an interruption to what has been so far ten minutes of near constant singing to some truly dreadful music. That one isn't new to Holly; that Gail has an awful, and very particular taste in music. She discovered early on in their friendship that Gail will flick between radio stations at the end of each song in order to find a new tune which suits her desires, and nine times out of ten she lands upon a song Holly would never have chosen to listen to if she was alone.

"Holly!" Gail whines when Holly does not acknowledge her suggestion.

"Huh?"

"We should go dancing. Go out. You can take me to a gay bar!" Holly can hear the palpable excitement in her voice, and it breaks her heart slightly to deny her.

"We're almost home. And I'm not really dressed for dancing." Holly gestures to her jeans, slightly loose sweater and long black jacket; definitely designed more for fighting that biting Canadian winter cold than for a night out in the city.

"You are, leave the jacket in the car, those jeans are pretty tight, they show off your ass, so they're fine, and then… are you wearing anything under your sweater?"

"Just a henley. And I'm wearing those fluffy socks."

"The soft ones?"

Holly nods, smiling at the memory of Gail marching around her house in her favourite pair of warm, soft, fluffy socks the morning after she burnt herself at the grow op.

"I love those socks." Gail says, slightly dreamily.

"I know. But they're not really designed for gay bars."

"Why, are you worried some chick will see them and decide she doesn't want to go home with you?"

"Not in the slightest, if were to go I'd already know before we got in that I was going home with the cutest girl there." Holly flashes Gail a grin and squeezes her knee.

Gail scowls slightly. "Someone's feeling confident. Who says I'd go home with you?"

"Well I am your ride. And your friends are pretty smashed, so I wouldn't count on them picking you up."

"Maybe I'd find some other girl to take me home."

"Is that how this works, I get you on weekdays then weekends you're fair game for the rest of Toronto's lesbians?"

"Pretty much." Gail shrugs.

"Well I guess I would want some time off anyway. You know how far you've made me fall behind on my work?"

Gail frowns, this time Holly can see, even in her periphery, that it is deeper than just an attempt to antagonise her.

"That's not to say it hasn't been wonderful. I wouldn't change this week for the world."

Gail's face relaxes and Holly squeezes her knee again.

"I can catch up on work when you're on nights."

Gail groans, and they return to silence for a minute or so.

"So no dancing?" Gail asks, eventually, remembering how their conversation had started.

"Not tonight. We could go tomorrow if you want, though, I guess. If you're up to it."

Gail leans across and places a soft kiss on Holly's cheek, before returning to tuning the radio into a new song to sing along to.

IV.

When Gail wakes the next morning she is alone in Holly's large bed. The only slight hammering in her head makes her immediately grateful for the two large glasses of water Holly made her drink before she went to sleep. She pulls herself out of bed, locates Holly's discarded socks on the floor by the door, and exits the room, following the scent of coffee down the stairs.

Holly is sat at the breakfast bar, a book open in front of her, with one hand cradling one of the two mugs on the bar, and the other holding a phone to her ear, wearing a loose blue flannel shirt over the tank and pants she wore to bed. Gail can hear a woman's voice speaking in her ear, but not who or what they are saying. When Holly notices her she smiles widely, gesturing to the other mug of coffee as she does so. Gail takes it gratefully and sips it, surveying the brunette as she listens intently to the voice on the other end of the line.

"Sorry." Holly mouths apologetically.

Gail raises her eyebrows in response, and returns her mug to the counter top, shuffling over to place a long but chaste kiss on the other woman's lips. Neither woman notices as the voice stops speaking, until a loud, questioning voice projects from the speaker. "Holly?"

"Yes, Mom?" Holly says into the receiver as they pull apart, pinching Gail's stomach as the blonde starts giggling. "No, I'm still here, sorry." The voice returns to its previous continuous buzzing, and Holly rolls her eyes.

Gail shuffles around behind Holly, wrapping her arms around her middle and resting her chin on the other woman's shoulder as she peers down at the book on the counter in front of them. She recognises the story from her school years, and scans the page, before reaching down to turn it.

Holly lightly slaps her hand. "I'm not finished on that page yet." Holly whispers, covering the microphone on the phone with her hand as she does so.

"Should have read it faster then." Gail counters. She leans in to place a kiss on the lips centimetres from her own, but Holly pulls back, eyebrows raised, and glances pointedly towards the open book.

Gail sighs, and turns the page back again, before leaning in to claim her brief reward from the brunette's lips.

It doesn't take long, however, before Gail bores of waiting for Holly to finish reading her page and turns her attention to Holly's neck and shoulder, exposed where her shirt has slipped down her arm. She trails kisses along the collar bone there, enjoying the feeling as Holly shudders slightly under her touch.

She proceeds to continue the trail up the olive skin of the woman's neck to her ear, sucking on the points where her kisses evoke the strongest reaction from the woman in her arms. Gail smiles to herself as Holly's occasional interjections to her mother's ramblings become shorter and husky. She repeats her path across Holly's skin back and forth, slipping her hands under the other woman's tank top to massage the skin she finds there. Holly's hand drops to grasp her forearm, stopping her left hand in its path northwards.

Gail halts her ministrations in order to pout at the pathologist who raises her eyebrows warningly at her. Gail rolls her eyes but returns her mouth to its previous task, running her tongue along the skin behind her ear, forcing a Holly to purr softly.

Her movements grow less gentle the longer the conversation goes on, sucking and nibbling until eventually she bites down on her pulse point, causing a soft "shit" to escape Holly's lips.

However, despite her softness, it doesn't escape her mother's notice.

"No, no, sorry mom... Something just... A cat just got in and started causing trouble ... I know, I thought I'd nailed it down ... no you don't have to go, I'll deal with it later ... It's fine, honestly ... Mom, no ... Fine, okay, speak to you soon ... Love you, bye."

Holly turns to look at the blonde, who is grinning gleefully.

"Are you pleased with yourself?"

"Always." Gail leans in and finally meets their lips in the deep kiss she has been longing for all morning. "I don't like waiting that long for my good morning kiss, just so you know." Gail informs her when they part.

"Sorry, she likes to ramble a bit..."

"So it's genetic?"

Holly ignores the interruption. "I can't cut short conversations with her, I've never been able to lie to her."

"Why lie? Just tell her you have a smoking hot blonde who needs your attention."

"You want me to tell my Mom about you? Bear in mind that she will demand to meet you immediately."

"Hm, maybe not." Gail leans in to gently capture Holly's lips once again, before resting her chin on her shoulder once more. "What's the plan for today?"

"I was going to suggest we go out for breakfast but after that, I don't know. I didn't know if you'd want to spend all weekend together."

"That probably wouldn't be the worst thing in the world."

"Charming. How's your hangover?"

Gail starts absent-mindedly flicking through the book on the counter now Holly's attention has been drawn from it. "I've had worse. Nothing a couple of aspirin won't sort out."

"Do you still want to go out again tonight?"

"Yeah, do you not?"

"I'm happy to, I just thought… well, it's been years since I drank heavily two nights in a row." Holly shrugs lightly with the shoulder Gail is not resting her weight on.

"That's because you're a dinosaur, Holly."

Holly responds by elbowing her in the ribs. "I am four and a half years older than you."

"Cougar." Gail smirks.

"Shut up. Don't pretend you don't dig it."

"I guess I kinda do. But it doesn't matter that you're an old crone, I'm the one who'll have been drinking for two nights straight, and my youthful body can handle any amount of alcohol."

"Whatever you say, Gail. I'll make us some dinner later then we can go to some bars. We should go get changed if we're going to make it to breakfast soon, though."

"Mm, hang on, I just wanna stay like this for a while." Gail murmurs, nuzzling into Holly's collar.

Holly turns her head and places a kiss on Gail's temple, twisting her own arms around Gail's as they maintain their hold around her waist.

"Are you wearing my socks?" She asks, glancing down at the floor.

"They're comfy."

"I wore them yesterday."

"Don't care." Gail hums into her shoulder, and the feeling of hot breath against her skin causes Holly to grasp tighter onto the other woman's arms, sinking into the soft body pressing against her back.

V.

When they finally make it to breakfast, Gail recounts her night to the brunette, who in turn explains the research she was working on in the blonde's absence. She has never been able to do that before; discuss her work with her partners, except for the few occasions she had dated other people with medical training. But Gail listens attentively, asking questions where she doesn't understand and actually showing a genuine interest in what she has to say. And when she doesn't look interested it's only because she's looking impressed, or almost proud, and it warms Holly's heart.

"I'm sorry, I've been talking about this for ages now. You can cut me off if you want." Holly says.

"No, no. You're kind of weirdly attractive when you're geeking out about stuff. I like it." Gail replies, not quite meeting Holly's gaze as she speaks.

"You're one of the first to think so."

"Everyone else are morons, Holly. I've told you this before." Gail says, before taking the straw to her milkshake in her mouth and drinking.

Holly chuckles lightly. "That's true." Holly takes a mouthful of pancake and chews, before speaking again. "So I have a question."

Gail stops slurping at her drink. "Yeah?"

"How much exactly did you tell your friends about us last night?"

"Us?"

"You and me. And what we do. Or don't do."

"Oh, right. Well, first of all; friends?" Gail asks, raising her eyebrows. Holly's mouth twitches into a knowing smile. She has heard regularly about the various ways in which her colleagues prove themselves to be terrible friends. But for all their faults, and yes they certainly have them; they certainly never seem to have made Gail feel she has someone she could trust in and rely on, who believes in her and sees past the shit and care for what was inside. In spite of that, though, she knows that Gail cares for them, and that they too care for her. They were never going to be her best friends, but those other friends; the ones who you can go drinking with, and gossip with and who may not completely get you but will pull you up when you're sinking, Gail has those, as hard-pressed as she is to admit it.

"Secondly, I don't remember a whole lot, but I didn't tell them much. I know I'm not like my usual… me, when I'm drunk, but I don't completely lay myself bare. I only told Traci stuff because she was implying that we were going to be having a dirty weekend together. And then I think I was telling Chris a little about you, but only you, not us or what we do together. But he was drunker than me so he probably doesn't remember that at all. But I don't talk to Chris about sex. Or anyone, really. I don't want them thinking about that."

"Okay. Good. I feel the same way." Holly smiles.

"So do your friends know about us?" Gail asks.

"My best friends do. I got a little excited when you said we were dating the other day, I had to tell them. I hope that's okay?" She could feel her cheeks going pink as she said it.

"What did you tell them?"

Holly smiles shyly. "Just that you're beautiful, and brave, and funny. And that I like you, and you like me. What did you tell Chris?"

"That you're more comfy to cuddle than him, mostly. I guess you're better at being complimentary than me."

"I'll take what I can get." Holly laughs.

"If I told him anything nicer he'd probably freak out and think you'd got Celery to put me under a love spell."

"Who's to say I haven't?" Holly raises an eyebrow questioningly.

"Like you need a love spell to get girls, with that brain and those boobs?"

Holly grins. "I think you may be a boob girl, Gail."

"I can't know for sure yet. I'll report back when I've been able to conduct a thorough investigation." Gail flashes a cheeky grin.

Holly flushes slightly. "Drink up your milkshake, Peck."


	8. Chapter 8

I.

After breakfast, which ends up going on until nearly midday, so neither woman is sure that it really counts as breakfast anymore, Holly drives Gail by her apartment to pick up some clothes. Their afternoon is spent lounging on Holly's couch watching television. Or more accurately, arguing about what television to watch. They settle where their interests collide; on a documentary about mammals violently killing each other. Not that you would suspect that would be the topic of their choice, based on their seating arrangement; Gail on her side with her head in the lap of the pathologist, who is playing absentmindedly with her hair.

"Do you prefer me with long or short hair?" Gail asks, during a commercial break.

"Honestly, I don't think I care much. I liked your old hair a lot, but this haircut suits you, it frames your face well. And I like it in the morning when it's sticking up in twenty different directions."

"I can't imagine you with different hair. It just looks right on you."

"In high school I went through a Spice Girls phase, I cut it short and straightened it every day to emulate Posh Spice." Holly recalls. "Remind me to never show you those photos."

"That's really bad for it, Holly." Gail says sternly.

"Coming from little miss bleach-a-lot over here."

"This is my natural colour." Gail deadpans.

"Yeah, right. I've met your brother. And your mother once too, actually; I bet you're a redhead."

"My mother's hair colour is quite obviously not natural. But keep making preposterous suggestions about my natural colour like that and you'll never find out."

"What do you mean…?" Gail looks up at her, eyebrow raised. "Oh right, collars and… right, yeah." Holly's voice fades quickly to nothing.

"Get your mind out of the gutter, Stewart. I meant I'll never tell you."

Holly shoves Gail's shoulder lightly and the blonde grins in response. "Don't play innocent with me, Peck."

"I'm always innocent. When did you meet my mother?"

"Police chief's gala last year, my boss introduced us; he'd only just hired me."

"I was at that gala." Gail recalls.

"You were?" Holly tilts her head inquiringly.

"Chief of Police is my Godfather remember? I'm sure I'd be forced to go even if he wasn't, though."

"Right. Sometimes I forget I'm dating police royalty."

Gail pretends to wretch. "Ugh, I wish I could forget. Do you think we saw each other there?"

"I don't know. Probably not. I think I would have remembered if I saw you."

"I don't remember much of anything. I think I spent all night at the bar with Steve."

"Not Nick?"

"It was while he was undercover. Which actually helped me there. I think the only really good thing about him being away was that Mom had absolutely no way to interfere in my love life. Her favourite thing about those Galas is the number of eligible bachelors she can introduce me to. But when you have a boyfriend who's deep undercover she can't do that, and she can't go around interrogating him either."

A worried look passes over Holly's face. "Do you think she'll interrogate me, too?"

"Almost certainly. Unless she takes the whole gay thing badly, then she'll just pretend you don't exist. I honestly don't know which would be better."

"She'd do that?"

Gail rolls over and looks up at the pathologist. "Maybe. She has certain expectations of us and getting married and having the 2.4 respectable kids is part of that."

"Gay people can get married and have 2.4 kids too." Holly points out.

"You know what I mean. But I think she'll probably see the plus side of having a gay daughter she can parade around a bit; give her PR a boost."

"That's… good, I guess?"

Gail shrugs. "That's Elaine. But you're so much more successful than any of the men I've ever brought home; she'll probably just overlook the whole uterus thing."

"You think?"

"Probably. Maybe. I don't know, Mom and me aren't really on the same page most of the time, her priorities don't exactly align with most other people's."

"Mom and I." Holly corrects.

"Shush. So where are you taking me tonight?"

Holly's brow furrows in thought. "I don't know, do you want a general gay bar or a lesbian bar? And do you want to go to a bar, or a club? And if it's a club, what sort of music?"

"Ugh, too many questions." Gail groans burying her face in the hem of Holly's t-shirt. "Why are there so many choices?"

"You know that the LGBT community isn't one homogenous group, right? Wedon't all like to do the same thing on a Saturday night." Holly grins.

"I know that." Gail whines. "I just don't like making choices, I don't exactly have a lot of experience to base my decision on. You choose."

"You're the one who wanted to go out."

"But you have the experience to make an informed choice."

"I don't really go out that much. I'm not sure I'm as well informed as you think I am." Holly points out.

"Don't you have a circle of lesbian friends you can ask about these things?"

"Most of my friends are doctors, they don't really have the time to go out much. And even if they did, only some of them are gay."

Gail smirks. "But then who do you go hiking with? Who goes plaid shirt shopping with you? Who…?"

"Okay, you can stop with the ever-so-witty questions." Holly says, raising her eyebrows warningly, but receiving only a grin from the blonde in her lap in return. "I guess we could just go up to the village and see where we fancy going when we get there."

"That sounds like an acceptable course of action. Now shush, I want to find out which one of these lions gets battered." Gail says sternly, turning back to watch the television now the advert break is over.

The side of Holly's mouth curls up into a lopsided smile, and she pinches the blonde's shoulder lightly. "I'm so lucky to have you, utilising me for my science channel subscriptions."

"Don't kid yourself Holly," Gail retorts, eyes not leaving the bloody battle occurring on screen. "If I wasn't here you'd still be watching these documentaries, you just wouldn't have a hot blonde's head in your lap."

"I could have another hot blonde's head in my lap." Holly suggests.

"Yeah right. In the time I've known you, you've only been on a date with one other person, and you left her for me, so…"

"I didn't leave her for you. We didn't click and then it just happened to be that you kissed me the next day."

"Because you were babbling on about how much she didn't mean anything and looking cute and sending me signals left, right and centre."

"Looking cute, huh?" Even after all the touches and kisses and confessions of desire the pair have exchanged in the past few days, Holly's heart skips a little at the compliment.

"Shut up, I'm learning." Gail gestures towards the television and her voice remains steady, but Holly can see the tips of her ears turning pink, and feels a satisfied smirk sweep over her features.

II.

They have barely moved from the couch all day, save for a short excursion to go and get lunch from the French bakery two blocks from Holly's house. It hasn't all been watching violent documentaries on the animal kingdom, though. For example, right now Gail is pinned underneath the brunette as her lips and neck are alternately lavished with attention from Holly's lips, teeth and tongue, and tan hands roam over the pale skin of her torso and chest underneath her t-shirt.

"Mmm, I should go and make dinner." Holly says, eventually breaking her mouth from its perpetual contact with the blonde's skin.

"This is good, let's carry on with this." Gail protests, lifting her head to plant a row of kisses along Holly's jaw.

"I don't think…"

Gail attempts to flip them so she's on top, in theory pinning Holly underneath her so she can't leave for the kitchen. In practice, however, there is nowhere near enough room on the couch for the manoeuvre, and they land in a heap on the floor, both thankful for the plush rug cushioning their fall. Gail has at least landed with her legs pinning one of Holly's thighs underneath her. She could count that as a sort of success. Once the horror at her own indignity has passed.

Holly bursts into laughter as Gail's mortified face turns bright red.

"What was that?" Holly gets out through her uncontrollable howls of amusement.

Gail buries her face into the rug beside Holly's head, shaking slightly with the overwhelming combination of humiliation and hilarity.

Holly lies there grinning until Gail works up the motivation to speak.

"Was trying to trap you under me." Gail eventually mutters into Holly's neck.

"Honey." Holly giggles. "I don't think the couch is really the place to be pulling out those moves. Maybe save them for when we're on a bed and actually have the space?"

Gail lifts her head and meets Holly's eyes, eyebrows raised suggestively.

"I still need to cook. And no offence, but that did kind of kill the mood. I think you bruised my hip." Holly continues laughing softly at the situation.

"Sorry." Gail murmurs, but buries herself back into Holly's collar in clear defiance of Holly's intention to get up and move to the kitchen.

Rather than attempt to remove the woman nestling on top of her, Holly takes the moment to wrap her arms tightly around the blonde.

"Is your hip okay?" Gail whispers after a few minutes.

Holly kisses the top of her head softly. "I think I'll survive."

"Screw going out, let's just stay here."

"Just lie here on the floor all night?"

"Yep."

Unfortunately for Gail's plans to remain planted on top of Holly's outstretched body all night, her stomach chooses that moment to rumble. Loudly.

Holly giggles. "I don't think your stomach agrees with you. Come on Spiderman, I'll get started on that dinner."

"Ugh." Gail rolls off the pathologist, but remains lying immobile on the floor as the other woman gets to her feet and brushes the fluff of the carpet from her clothes.

"When did you undo these?" Holly asks, noticing that the bottom few buttons of her button down are hanging open.

Gail shrugs as best she can without lifting her back from the carpet. "While you were busy copping a feel of these." She waves her arms vaguely around her chest.

Holly gives an impressed hum. "Very deft."

"All in vain, didn't exactly didn't get to utilise the extra access." Gail grumbles.

"Well, my agile little super cop." Holly starts, as she recloses the buttons. "Maybe if you're lucky, you'll get a second attempt tonight."

Gail props herself up onto her elbows and raises an eyebrow. "Don't make any promises you can't keep, Dr Stewart."

"I'm not promising anything." Holly flashes a grin before heading into the kitchen.

Gail groans and forces herself to her feet, following the other woman who is staring intently into her fridge.

"What are you cooking?" She asks.

"Not sure… chicken casserole?"

Gail shrugs. "How long will it take?"

"Three quarters of an hour, maybe?" Holly turns to look at her. "Why?"

"I think I'm going to head back to the apartment."

A look of confusion and slight panic sweeps across Holly's face. "Why?"

Gail grabs Holly's face gently between her hands. "Just to get some clothes, nerd. I'm not bolting."

"Right. Of course."

Gail plants a soft kiss on the full lips in front of her. "I'll just call Chris and ask him to pick me up."

"Hm, no. Take my car."

"Are you sure?"

"Well I wouldn't usually lend it, but you're a cop, I figure you're a pretty good driver. Although now I'm thinking about it I've never actually seen you drive…"

"Don't worry Holly. I'm an excellent driver. I'll bring her back in one piece."

Holly smiles. "You'd better." She leans in to kiss the blonde again. "Keys are in the bowl on the coffee table."

As Gail disappears to collect the keys and get dressed for the cold outdoors, Holly starts gathering the ingredients for dinner, but has barely managed to open the cupboards before she finds herself spun around pushed up against the counter, firm hands on her hips and strong tongue parting her lips.

But it is barely over before it has begun, Holly's hands recovering from their initial shock to just start running through Gail's hair before the police officer pulls back, dark eyed.

"I just didn't want you to forget your promise about tonight." She says in a husky voice, before turning on her heel and marching out of the house.

Holly takes a few moments to gather herself. "I didn't actually promise anything." She shouts just before she hears the front door shutting.

III.

Gail returns just under an hour later, letting herself in with the spare house keys on Holly's car keys. Much to her surprise, the lights in the entrance hall of the house are turned off, and she gently sets her bag down on the floor and removes her coat.

"Sorry I'm late Hol, I got waylaid by Dov."

She peers into the empty kitchen. Everything is turned off, but there is a definite smell of cooking food lingering in the air.

"Holly?" She calls. "Babe? Sorry I should have texted. Are you still in?"

"I'm through here." The familiar voice calls from through the living room and she follows it eagerly.

"Oh thank God, I thought… well I don't know what I thought." She walks over to Holly, who is stood at the far end of the living room, an end Gail has never ventured to before, largely due to its lack of television and cushioned seating.

"What, that I'd stormed out in anger at you being ten minutes late?" Holly grins.

"I don't know, maybe?" Gail looks sheepish as she reaches Holly and stands just in front of her.

"I wouldn't leave here when there's food waiting to be eaten." Holly smirks.

"A woman after my own heart." Gail tries to lean past Holly and grab some of the bread that is sitting next to the casserole dish on the table, but Holly slaps her arms lightly.

"Manners." The brunette warns.

"Well are you going to pull me up a seat or something then?" Gail suggests.

Holly scowls sceptically. "Why do I have to pull you up a seat?"

"I don't know. It's your house?" She offers. "This is just another question I should have asked you about the logistics of being a lesbian."

"Do you let guys hold your seats for you?" Holly asks, already suspecting she knows the answer.

"Well, no." Gail admits.

"Exactly, you're a twenty-first century woman. Pull your own seat out." Holly's lips turn up into a lopsided satisfied smile.

"But what about manners." Gail teases.

"Shut it Peck, sit down and serve yourself. Do you want red or white wine?" She asks as she walks towards the kitchen

"Red." Gail answers as she takes her seat. "Or… whatever you're having." She corrects, realising that may be the more courteous answer.

"Red is good with me." Holly smiles. "Babe."

Gail frowns slightly as she serves herself. "You've never called me babe before." She states, although it is posed as more of a question.

"True, but you just called me it." Holly calls back from the kitchen as she locates an appropriate bottle of wine.

"I did?" Gail questions, serving food onto Holly's plate. "Oh yeah."

"I kind of liked it."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah." Holly ducks down to plant a chaste kiss on the lips of the pale woman as she returns and opens the bottle, filling Gail's glass before taking a seat and filling her own. "Did you get everything you wanted from your apartment?"

"Yep." Gail takes a sip from her glass. "I would have been in and out in five minutes but Dov wanted to ask me all these questions about what he should do about the Chloe having a husband situation. Lord knows why he thought I would have the answer, relationships aren't exactly my forte."

Holly raises an eyebrow. "You're doing pretty well so far."

"It's been less than a week, Holly. Throw in a curveball like you having a husband and I'm not sure I'd deal with that very well at all."

"I'm not sure that anyone would deal with that very well." Holly points out.

"You know that's when you're supposed to assure me that you don't have a husband."

"I don't have a husband." Holly states, but Gail's enquiring gaze doesn't abate. "Or a wife." She adds.

"Good. And no secret love-children? No long standing affair with your boss? No straight best friend you secretly lust over?"

"None of the above. Well, maybe the last one."

Holly laughs at Gail's slightly panicked expression. "It's you, dummy."

Gail turns slightly pink, but smiles gently.

"Anyway, there won't be any curveballs of that proportion because I can assure you my life before you was no way interesting enough for my past to have any major influence on this relationship." Holly explains.

"You know I can't say the same thing, right? I mean, I'm a certified mess."

"You're not a mess. And I trust that if things get difficult, you'll do the right thing. But right now, it's easy and amazing, so let's focus on that, rather than dwelling on hypothetical future encounters with the skeletons in our closets."

Gail narrows her eyes. "You just said there were no skeletons in your closet?"

"Well in my case it's a literal model skeleton from when I was at medical school, but you know. Same difference."

"You're such a dork." Gail says through a mouthful of food.

"And you are super sexy when you talk with your mouth stuffed with chicken." Holly observes.

"Really?"

Holly laughs softly. "No, honey. Sorry. Cute, maybe; sexy, definitely not."

"Yet you do lust over me?" Gail recalls the admission from a couple of minutes ago, grinning.

"Eat up your food, Gail."

"Come on, Holly." Gail whines. "What do you lust over? I need to know so I know which assets to focus on when I get dressed later."

Holly just gives a warning smirk and carries on eating.

"Holly…!"

IV.

Honestly, Holly doesn't know which of Gail's 'assets' she usually lusts over most, but when she comes downstairs later that evening in a dark blue skirt which so tightly hugs her ass and thighs, with an accompanying loose white blouse, just sheer enough that you can see the shadow of a dark bra underneath, she know that on this night, it's going to be her legs. Long, pale, shaped by the most perfectly curved and defined hips Holly has ever seen. Granted they are made longer by the dark heels she has strapped her feet into, and the blemishes and scars and occasional moles that dot the easily-marked pale skin of her legs are hidden underneath some thin pantyhose, but Holly has seen those legs bare and flat-footed, and knows without a shadow of a doubt that that dress would make them irresistible even without the shoes and thin material covering them.

Holly pops open another button on her blouse when she knows Gail is looking around for her purse in an attempt to even the score, but knows she hasn't even come close.

"Is this okay, to go out in?" Gail asks nervously.

Holly clears her throat. "Yes. It's perfect." She can't draw her eyes up from those toned thighs. Her imagination is in overdrive, her centre pulsing at the thoughts of the things they could do. Or she could do on them.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. Definitely. You're going to have your pick of Toronto's lesbians."

"Well I only want one of Toronto's lesbians, so does she like it?"

"She… absolutely likes it. She kind of can't believe that she gets to take you out tonight." Holly confesses.

"Well this 'maybe-lesbian-maybe-something-else-who-cares' kind of can't believe she gets to be taken out by you. And those boobs. Which I'm fairly sure were not that on display when I first walked into the room." Gail observes, eyes narrowed.

Holly turns a guilty shade of light pink.

"I mean, I'm not complaining." Gail adds, a sparkle in her eye.

"The cab should be here in two minutes." Holly states, but as she says it, a car's horn sounds from outside. "Or right now. Are you sure you don't mind going in a taxi?"

"As long as I'm not alone, it's fine." Gail smiles gently.

Holly returns the smile and pulls on her coat, opening the front door for Gail to head out to the waiting vehicle.

V.

Leaving Gail at a table at one of her favourite bars whilst she heads to get drinks, Holly is annoyed, but admittedly unsurprised when she returns to find her date is has company.

"Look lady, I am here with someone. And even if I wasn't, my clear disinterest in you should have been enough of a reason for you to leave me alone." Holly can't help but smile as she hears Gail's words, but the blonde hasn't noticed her return yet.

"Where is this mysterious woman, then?" Her admirer asks.

"She's at the bar. So if you wouldn't mind pissing off, because I'm a cop, and I will find a way to get you on harassment charges."

The admirer raises her arms in defeat. "Fine, but you don't know what you're missing out on." She steps away, leaving Holly with a clear view of her scowling cop.

"I had hoped that being in a bar with very few straight dudes would have reduced that."

"Nope, there are creeps of every gender." Holly sighs, pouring them both a glass of newly purchased wine.

"And that is why I hate all people." Gail takes a sip from her glass.

Holly pouts slightly.

"Almost all people." Gail corrects herself, before looking around the bar intently, observing the variety of people; all sat at tables drinking or stood, milling around near the stage on the opposite side of the room. "So how many of the girls in here have you slept with?"

Holly chokes slightly on her drink. "Excuse me?

"I won't be jealous, I promise."

"I… I haven't slept with anyone in here."

Gail narrows her eyes suspiciously. "You didn't even look around, you can't possibly know that."

"I haven't slept with anywhere near enough people that it's at all statistically likely any of them are here." Holly argues, but looks around the room nonetheless. "Having said that, I did once make out with the red head over there."

Holly watches for Gail's reaction, and is satisfied when a scowl passes over her features. "The one with the big ears? You could do way better than her, Holly."

"I thought you said you wouldn't get jealous." Holly teases.

"I'm not jealous!" The blonde retorts defensively.

"Of course you're not…"

"I'm not. I'm just saying she's well below you." Gail's expression betrays her though as her eyes scrutinise Holly's features. "You're lying!"

"Hm?" Holly asks innocently.

"You've never even spoken to her, have you?"

Holly's lips curl into a smile. "Never seen her before in my life. I just wanted to see your reaction."

Gail's scowl deepens. "I wasn't jealous."

"I believe you." Holly smiles sweetly, and leans over. "But you don't need to be jealous, you know that, right?" She closes the final distance between them, meeting Gail's lips tenderly with her own.

"I know, who could anyone possibly want more than me?" Gail murmurs when they part, resting their foreheads together.

"Exactly, maybe in less egotistical language, but it's true."

Gail strokes her cheek, and even though her fingers are heavily adorned with rings, Holly doesn't mind the cold of the metal against her skin for the tingling that the sensation of the officer's touch sends through her body. "Thank you… for this week."

"Me? Thank you. I never even let myself dream that you…we… this…"

"I'm sorry it took me a while to, you know, realise. Or let myself realise." Gail says softly.

"You don't have to apologise for anything." Holly reassures her.

"Not even for chopping off all my hair in your bathroom?"

Holly kisses her again. "Not even for that."

"Thank you. This should have been a really, truly crappy week. But you, somehow… I don't know. Somehow it wasn't as crap as it should have been, and I'm fairly sure that's thanks to you."

Holly is fairly sure she is beaming with joy at this point. "You've made this week so wonderful for me, too."

"Really?"

"Absolutely."

Their deep kiss is broken by the sudden dimming of the lights and the loud booming of a low voice over the sound system. Gail jumps back in shock.

"What's happening?" She asks, eyes darting around the room.

"I think the show's about to start."

"Show?"

"Didn't I mention this bar has drag shows on Saturday nights?" Holly asks innocently.

"…you didn't mention that, no." Gail says slowly.

"Oops." Holly shrugs, grinning. "Come here, you're going to want to be able to see this. Trust me, they're really good." Holly pats the empty space beside her on her bench, from where she has a clear view of the stage.

Gail shuffles off her seat and squeezes in next to the brunette, who drapes an arm around her shoulders.

"Is it weird that I'm actually kind of excited to see this?" Gail asks, tentatively.

"Nope, not weird at all. It's fun, that's why I brought you here."

"But we're still going dancing after, right?"

"Of course." Holly whispers into her ear, smiling and inhaling the heavenly scent of her hair as she does so. "I can't wait."


	9. Chapter 9

I.

"She has good legs. Like really, really good legs, Holly. I mean, definitely better legs than me." Gail whispers, transfixed by the performance taking place on stage.

Holly jolts, taking her eyes off the woman next to her for the first time in minutes and glancing at the stage, where, true to Gail's word, a drag queen with a pair of exceptionally long, shapely legs is belting out a medley of Madonna's greatest hits.

She takes a long, lingering look up Gail's crossed legs too – just to compare, she tells herself – before replying.

"I don't know Gail. They are good legs, but…" she falters, unsure how to continue without exposing the extent to which her thoughts have been occupied by the pale limbs to agonisingly close to her own.

"Maybe I should start doing more squats." Gail muses, still so entranced that she does not pick up on her date's fumbling over her words.

"You don't need to do anything, your legs are fine." Fine, extraordinary, fantasy-inducing…

"Hm…" Gail doesn't respond however, her attention so caught by the newest performer on stage that she doesn't notice the brown eyes to her left detailing her every reaction to the goings-on under the spotlight.

Detailing her eyes, wide in an infant-like anticipation of what will occur next. Her lips; occasionally caught between her teeth, occasionally wetted by the tongue that periodically darts out of her mouth to moisten them. Her eyebrows, moving from high on her forehead to furrowed as she flickers between bewilderment and amazement. Her long fingers, stilled in their hold of an almost empty wine glass Holly is not even sure Gail remembers she possesses anymore. Every feature and every movement as beautiful and entrancing as the next. To Holly it makes no sense that everyone was watching the stage with this exquisitecreature in such close proximity.

Holly is so enchanted that she fails to notice the show ending until Gail glances at her, her expression immediately shifting from encapsulated to unnerved.

"What?"

Holly checks herself, shaking out of her stupor and refilling her glass with wine. "Did you enjoy the show?"

Gail's eyes narrow as she watches the brunette lean over and top up her own glass. "Yes, did you?"

"It was good, impressive." Holly finds herself unable to meet the other woman's eye.

"Really? Which part specifically did you find most impressive?"

"You know, the one… with the legs."

"The chick Ipointed out to you?"

Holly nods slowly. "Yeah. Well, you were right, they were really good legs."

"And what was your second favourite?"

Holly takes a long, slow sip of her drink, desperately trying to recall any moment of the show that managed to draw her attention, however briefly, from the blonde. And failing. "Oh, you know, there were so many… good parts, it's hard to choose…"

Gail just locks her with a stare that Holly can feel burning through her pupils and into her soul. This look must be why Pecks make excellent police officers. Holly certainly wouldn't want to be shut in an interrogation room with those azure irises penetrating her every defence.

She squirms slightly. "What?" She asks eventually, when Gail's gaze makes no indication of leaving her.

Gail breaks out into a smirk. "You are a terrible liar." She takes a large swig from her recently replenished glass.

"I wasn't lying." Holly retorts indignantly.

"Oh really?"

"Really."

"So what, you were watching the reflection of the show in my eyes? Or does wearing contacts suddenly give you immaculate peripheral vision?" Gail enquires, smirk still sitting smugly upon her face.

"I was just looking at you to check you were having a good time. It's a lot of pressure being in charge of your first big gay night out, I don't want you to have feel like you're not enjoying yourself or that you're bored or…" Holly's ramblings are cut off by soft lips gently pressing themselves against hers.

Gail pulls back, but not so far that Holly stops feeling the air from her soft exhales upon her own moistened lips. "I'm having a good time. And you are kind of cute when you try to lie. Even if you are terrible at it."

"I'm not a terrible liar." Holly argues, weakly. "And I never lie to you anyway."

Gail scoffs and pulls away slightly. "Really? 'No, Gail, the courier's sick', 'No, Gail, I'm not panicking about going to second base with you', 'Try something new Gail, it won't kill you'…"

"That is not how I said any of those things. And the last one was not a lie, I had no reason to expect you to have that little ability with a baseball bat." Holly protests.

"I did try to warn you."

"I thought you were being melodramatic."

"Well, I was not. I haven't played any sport since my mother threatened to withhold my allowance if I didn't even try to get onto a varsity team first year of college. You would have thought she would have realised that hand eye coordination is not my strong point after eighteen years. The only reason I can fire a gun straight is because she had me practising since I was a child."

"You never talk about college." Holly observes, pushing a stray bit of hair away from where it has fallen over Gail's eye.

Gail's tongue darts to moisten her lips and a contemplative look falls over her face. "I guess I'm not used to people wanting to know. I think in the past four years the only conversations I've had have been about relationships or police work."

"Should I be concerned that you're only dating me because I'm the only person you know who isn't a cop?"

"I was only friends with you because you're the only person I know who's not a cop. I'm dating you because you have a good rack." Gail smiles wryly.

"Well that makes me feel a lot better." Holly just manages to stifle a soft laugh as she captures Gail's lips with her own.

Gail pulls back to speak, "Good. It was meant to."

She glances down at her empty glass then across to the equally empty bottle on the table, and abruptly stands up. "Another drink?"

Holly tries not to pout at the officer's sudden absence from her immediate vicinity. "Let me, I'm taking you out tonight, remember."

"Mm, no." Gail shakes her head.

"No?"

"No." Gail smiles sweetly as she heads towards the bar, leaving a slightly entranced forensic pathologist at the table.

She returns a few minutes later, two coke-filled highballs in her hands.

"How did you get those so quickly?"

Gail shrugs as she reclaims her seat. "Bartender liked me, I suppose."

Holly looks over at the smiling, busty, dirty blonde behind the bar then back at her smirking date. "Are you trying to play me at my own game?"

"What game?" Gail asks innocently.

"I'm not going to get jealous just because one bartender flirts with you a bit."

"Well that's good, because I'm very popular with lesbians."

Holly raises her eyebrows. "Oh you are?"

"Uh-huh. Just warning you so that you're prepared for the masses of women who will try to hit on…"

Holly cuts her off with a short but determined kiss, pulling back just as Gail's lips start to move against her own. "You just had to stop talking."

"That's my line." Gail murmurs.

"It felt appropriate." Holly smiles, then glances at the glass just placed in front of her. "We've moved on from wine, I see?"

Gail shrugs. "Fancied something stronger."

"How much stronger? Should I be concerned?"

"Do you not trust me?" Gail feigns indignation.

Holly narrows her eyes suspiciously and takes a sip. "Rum?"

"That's what you drink when you're going out, right?" It's a question, but from Gail's intonation it sounds more like a statement.

Holly smiles gently at the blonde's unthinking thoughtfulness. The way when she's not actively fighting people, her natural instinct is to remember the littlest things and consider them in her actions without any intention of impressing.

"Yes, but it's only a single."

"You hate doubles."

"Is yours a double?"

"Yes. But I can handle it." Gail grins.

"I could handle it." Holly protests.

Gail glances at her sceptically, but doesn't argue. "You want to swap and have mine?"

"Is it whiskey?"

Gail shakes her head as she sucks on her straw. "Too expensive. Chick was going to charge me sixteen dollars for a double jack and coke. Vodka."

Holly grimaces. "No thanks."

"Good, I really didn't want your sorority girl mixer anyway."

"My what?" Holly raises her eyebrows.

"I like you Holly, but you are at least fifteen years too old to be drinking rum and coke."

Holly shrugs, unabashed. "I like it."

"We're getting bourbon the next place we go. Where is that, by the way?"

"There's supposed to be a nightclub with a good ladies night three blocks away, I thought maybe…"

"Who exactly told you about said night club?"

Holly ponders the question for a moment before conceding to it "… tripadvisor."

Gail lets out an exasperated sigh. "I am literally dating Toronto's worst connected lesbian."

"I told you! All my friends are straight or doctors, or both, mostly. And it's not like I grew up or went to college in the city. This is not my area of expertise!"

"Did you get this place off tripadvisor too?" Gail looks around the bar.

"No, I've been here a few times. I've been to some gay clubs too, I just usually follow everyone else to them, I never know where I'm really going, or where's best on a specific day. I think I've been to this one before. I'm not sure."

"What's it called?"

"I don't really know how to say it. It's not an actual word." Holly rummages around for her phone in her pocket and flicks open the webpage, holding it for Gail to look at.

The blonde ponders the page. "Well I've never heard of it, so it probably isn't owned by one of the larger organised crime rings."

"This is way out of your division's territory though, surely that doesn't mean much?" Holly questions.

"I've heard of most of the worst places in the city. If they're bad enough they're on everyone's radars."

"Does that mean it gets your seal of approval?"

Gail sips her drink, and continues flicking through the page. "Well given that only about five things in existence have ever received my seal of approval, probably not."

"Do I have your seal of approval?" Holly giggles.

"Mm, you're getting there." Gail replies without missing a beat.

Holly pouts slightly, but Gail's attention is still on the phone in her hands. "Well buxom-TO1991 says it has 'plenty of studs and some of Toronto's finest and loosest dykes'," She reads from the screen. "So it must be worth a visit. What's a stud?"

Holly looks around the bar and points at a short haired, tattoo-sleeve sporting, brunette sat at the bar, "Like her, but also kind of a lothario."

Gail nods in appreciation of her newly acquired knowledge, and returns to the phone.

"So do you trust my judgement enough to let me take you there?" Holly asks, after a momentary silence.

Gail looks up at her. "Of course I do." She says like it's the most obvious thing in the world.

"Because you've been reading that page for quite a while now."

"Sorry. It's entertaining. People write weird stuff about places they have pulled. Here." She hands the phone back to the brunette.

"Thanks. I'm meant to be your entertainment tonight."

Gail almost chokes on her drink.

Holly flushes immediately. "I just meant… I'm meant to have your attention, not my phone. I'm not doing anything… performing wise. I didn't mean entertainment, I meant…" She trails off, eyes narrowing at the now smirking, but still slightly pink from her impromptu coughing fit, blonde next to her.

"You're meant to kiss me when I start rambling." Holly points out.

"Sorry." Gail offers as her lips meet Holly's in the tenderest of kisses. "I just wanted to see where you were going with that."

Gail starts to pull back, but Holly's hand sneaks around the back of her neck, weaving lightly through the hairs at the bottom of her skull, and forces her back. Gail takes a moment to react to the return of soft lips against hers, but quickly works to accommodate their movements. She shivers as Holly's hand slides under her ear and across her jaw, thumb stroking across her cheek gently. Her own hand finds purchase half way up Holly's thigh, evoking a slight gasp from the older woman as her fingers draw lazy circles on the inside of her leg through her jeans.

Gail can't help but groan as they part, just as Holly's tongue has tantalisingly swept across her lips.

"Maybe we should get going to this 'ikn…' whatever, place." Gail suggests.

"You haven't finished your drink." Holly points out.

Gail picks up her glass and throws back the remaining liquid, grimacing slightly as it burns down the back of her throat.

"Let's go." She stands up, and pulls on her coat. Holly follows suit and takes her place next to her date as they leave the bar, fingers linked in a tight hold.

II.

They only separate hands when they reach the front of the nightclub's short queue and they are asked to present their IDs. Whilst it is an over-21s only night (that was one thing Gail had wanted to check in the reviews- she was not up for partying with a load of college students), it is still a slightly ridiculous ask, and Gail shoots the bouncers an appropriately dirty look in response.

Once they have paid their cover charge, Holly slips out of her coat and hands it to Gail. "Here, you take these to the coat check, I'll get us some drinks." She says, before slipping off through the main doors in front of them before Gail is able to respond.

Once the coats are checked, Gail follows her date into the main room, and is immediately thankful that the club has not yet filled densely as she spots the back of the pathologist's head at the bar, slightly taller than most, but not all, of the women around her. She contemplates joining her at the bar, but decides to sit at a bar table in the corner so the brunette can realise for herself her error in rushing off into a crowded room neither of them were acquainted with without properly working out where to meet.

Unfortunately, missing in Gail's plan to show to Holly the error of her ways is her own, platinum hair, and Holly takes only one brief survey of the room before she identifies the location of her date and heads towards them, two glasses containing a liquid Gail can't identify in the dark room in her hands.

"I forgot to organise where to meet." Holly says sheepishly as she climbs into the second stool at the table, placing herself only centimetres to the side of her companion.

Gail smiles and kisses her cheek. "I know."

"I've had more than I realised, with the wine we had at dinner."

Gail just nods and inspects her drink. This was something she had noticed half an hour ago already. Not to Holly's detriment. She was just slightly less together, more easily flustered and prone to social faux pas beyond her usual awkward bumbling. It made sense, Gail was sure Holly's brain worked at at least four times the speed of every other human being's, of course a bottle of wine was going to jam up some of those constantly whirring cogs slightly. And Gail knew from previous visits to the penny together during the platonic stages of their relationship that she could probably drink Holly under the table three times over.

"This had better not have Red Bull in it, Holly." Gail indicates the glass in her hand, eyeing suspiciously the group of twenty-somethings at the table next to them.

"Of course not, that stuff is horrid, it's pure sugar and caffeine. It's whiskey, as requested. Well, scotch."

"And yours?"

"Don't worry, it's the same." Holly smiles.

"No need to be so proud Holly, you like whiskey. We bonded over that."

"I thought we bonded over our cynical antisocial behaviour at weddings." Holly points out.

"We bonded over many things." Gail concedes. "But you do also keep bottles of bourbon in your cupboards so you can't pretend drinking whiskey is a chore for you."

"Kept bottles of bourbon in my cupboards. If I recall, someone drank my last one."

"I didn't finish it." Gail argues.

"True." Holly admits. "Okay, so imagine I'm here at this table, or… no, wait, that table." She points at the group of twenty somethings Gail had previously been warily appraising. "I'm out with my friends, with them, and you're out searching for some tail. How would you pick me up? Show me your moves."

Gail's lips curl into a bemused smile. "You're ridiculous."

Holly just grins widely in response and sucks on her straw.

"Well firstly, they are all far too cool to be your friends, Holly. Secondly, I would definitely never want to hook up with you if those sorts of hipsters were your friends. And thirdly, I don't pick people up."

"So I'd have to pick you up?"

"Only if you wanted me to pour a drink down your front."

"Hm. That is quite the quandary." Holly muses.

Gail just giggles lightly, the same bemused look on her face.

"How do you ever get in relationships then, if you won't initiate them but also hurt those who try to woo you?" Holly asks.

"I don't know," Gail ponders "I guess they always end up tricking me into liking them as friends then turn around and kiss me once they've already wormed their way into my life." She says, accusingly.

"Ah, see, I didn't do that. I only kissed you on maybe the third time I met you."

"Or they go on dates in front of me to make me jealous then corner me in small rooms where I have no choice but to kiss them."

"No choice, huh? We could always just stop the whole kissing thing, if that's what you want." Holly teases.

"Nah, the deception runs too deep now, there's no easy backing out anymore." Gail raises her shoulders in a resigned mock shrug.

"I'm sure you could find a way if you really wanted."

"I'd feel bad, all that effort you put into courting me, wasted."

Holly bats lightly at the blonde's shoulder. "I did not court you. Also I did not go on that date to make you jealous!" She huffs, recalling the allegation made a minute earlier.

"Sure." Gail responds, as unconvincingly as possible. "Oh, what if she's here and she catches you taking me out to clubs less than a week after your date, hussy!" She looks around the club, gleeful at the prospect.

"She wouldn't start a catfight, if that's what you're suggesting. She was a little too… refined, for that."

Gail's face falls slightly. "That's disappointing." She looks around the room. "How about you, how would you pick me up if I was here, skulking in the corner?"

"Me? I'd have been scared off when you poured your drink down the first person who tried to hook up with you."

"Too bad; we could have been really good together." Gail muses.

"Yeah. Good thing you spent the first six hours we knew each other hiding in my lab so we had to get to know each other."

"Good thing I am so terrible at relationships I had to spend six hours hiding from my colleagues with you weirdos at the morgue."

"Are you expecting me to drink to you being terrible at relationships?" Holly asks.

"Good point. Okay, good thing I have such terrible friends that I had no choice but to befriend the strange, hot forensic pathologist." Gail suggests, raising her glass.

"That's slightly better." Holly says, clinking her own drink against Gail's and following her lead in downing it.

"I kind of want to go dance, but I feel like this room is not quite ready for us to unleash our moves yet." Holly observes, looking around the room. "Let's go to the bar." She suggests, taking Gail's hand and pulling her to the large bar along one side of the room before the blonde has a chance to protest. Not that she would even if she had the chance. Especially now the prospect of dancing is definitely on the cards. That has never bothered her before, dancing. Her ability to brush off what others think of her is so well refined that other people's judgements of the wild, rhythm-less flailing she usually calls 'dancing' have never impacted her in the slightest. Nor did they bother Holly, she had gathered from their ridiculous uncoordinated-yet-somehow-still-in-tandem movements on the dance floor at Frank and Noelle's wedding. But that wasn't sexy dancing. There wasn't any sweaty grinding or any attempts to arouse through provocative but rhythmic touches then. The idea that is now dawning upon her, that tonight may require those sorts of moves, in which she is certainly not skilled, certainly makes more alcohol seem more of a necessity than it had previously.

Waiting for the attention of the bartender, Gail is disappointed to find that her self-declared power to attract lesbians does not extend to the soft butch serving the patrons at their end of the bar. The revelation would have sent her into a sulk if it weren't for Holly's fingers tracing her waist lightly through her shirt.

When they finally do receive the attention of the bartender, Gail jumps in and orders five tequila shots before Holly has a chance to get back on the rum and coke. Teasing aside, if this night goes the way Gail hopes, it will be a whole lot more pleasant if Holly does not taste of Captain Morgan. Too many nights at college spent making out with a boyfriend who would spend all evening drinking beer and smoking taught her to be very aware of what people were drinking before she stuck her tongue down their throats.

Holly eyes her carefully and leans in to shout in her ear over the music. "You know you can't split five in half, right?"

"I know. Three for me, two for you."

"Why do you get more?"

"Because I need more." Gail answers as their drinks arrive, whipping out her card and handing it across the bar before Holly has the chance to do the same. "Race to finish these first?"

"You have one more than me." Holly points out.

"I'm feeling confident." Gail retorts, picking up a shot and holding it in midair for Holly to meet with her own. They shoot their first drink, and sure as Gail had expected, Holly pauses to grimace after she swallows, giving Gail the time to put back a second before Holly has even started hers, and she ends up finishing her third milliseconds before the brunette is done.

"Shit." Holly mutters a rare cuss in response to the burning sensation left by the alcohol in her mouth. Gail holds out a piece of lime, but when the pathologist doesn't immediately take it from her, she elects to push it against the other woman's teeth through her slightly parted lips.

"GAIL!" She shrieks, attracting the attention of a couple of groups near to them.

Gail almost doubles over with laughter as the other woman reprimands her with a swat to the shoulder.

"That wasn't funny!" Holly protests.

Gail just wraps her arms around her waist, pulling them flush against each another. "I was helping you." She says, sweetly.

"I didn't need help!" Holly protests, but Gail just continues her silent, sickly innocent smile. "If I was wearing lipstick you would have completely ruined it." She pouts.

"You never wear lipstick." Gail reasons.

"I could start."

"I like you without." The blonde murmurs (as much as one can murmur in a nightclub with music blasting), before capturing Holly's lips in a soft, chaste kiss. She can taste the raw lime and tequila on her soft skin, but that somehow doesn't detract from the gentle sweetness of the brunette's lips.

She would have been perfectly happy to linger in this moment endlessly, but the music suddenly turns to a disgustingly upbeat and catchy pop track Gail is certain will be stuck in her head for the rest of the weekend. "Let's get the dancing over and done with then." She says, dramatically.

Holly pokes her in the ribs for her petulance, but grabs her hand and drags her to the dancefloor without argument.

The dancefloor itself is only moderately populated, allowing the space for Gail, in theory, to throw out some of her more natural, most flailing moves. She realises very quickly, though, that she needs more alcohol still if they are going to come to her very easily. Holly, however, appears to be in her element. Surprisingly in her element. It's that cool, unabashed, but not in your face, confidence thing she has going on. She just waves her arms in the air and starts jumping around giddily as the chorus hits its peak, like she doesn't care what people think. And it's not just because of the alcohol.

"I love this song!" She yells into Gail's ear as her arm founds the air furiously.

Gail can't help but laugh internally at the idea of the nerdy, glasses wearing, lesbian being such a big fan of the most mainstream song of the year. But then, Gail notes, Holly is never allowed to tune the radio when she's around, so she really has no idea what sort of music she likes at all.

"You have a terrible taste in music!" Gail shouts back.

"Huh?" Holly is too lost in the pumping music and her own uncoordinated moves to hear anything Gail is saying.

Gail smiles, content to just watch the other woman lose herself to the music as she waits for the alcohol to filter into her own bloodstream.

Or for the DJ to change to something more her style, which he does very soon, abruptly cutting off the end of the bright pop ballad to launch into a classic seventies rock belter. It's far more to Gail's taste, something she attempts to express to her date, but once again her words don't seem to be at all comprehended.

In lieu of words she finds herself compelled to finally join in Holly's atypical dancing. In fact both are so committed to the atypical dancing style that neither notice the slightly wild berth nearby women were giving them for the entirety of the next five songs, each cut off at bizarre, nonsensical moments to make wake for the next, from seventies rock belter, to nineties power ballad, to extremely mainstream white rap, to boyband tune everyone was beyond pretending they didn't actually like.

Finally Gail gives in and indicates her need for a drink. Holly acquiesces and lets herself be led back to the bar where Gail orders them two beers.

"You know alcohol doesn't actually help with dehydration." Holly points out.

"You must have been the life of the party in undergrad." Gail grins, grabbing the bottles from the bar. She runs her hands through her hair, pushing it back from her hot face, but leaving the hair itself sticking out slightly, held there by the sweat that can be seen glistening across all areas of her exposed skin. Her cheeks too, are tinged red from the heat of the room and the dancing.

"So what do you think so far?" Holly asks.

Gail ponders the question. "Well the DJ is… potentially the worst I've ever heard."

Holly takes a long sip of her drink. "She's just a bit cheesy."

"There is an art to cheesy, Holly, and she has not mastered it." Gail explains, matter-of-factly. "But I'm having fun."

"Yeah?"

"Yep." Gail nods, resting her elbows on the bar and leaning back against them. "And while I'm starting to remember why I never go out anywhere other than the Penny, I could get used to clubbing without men." She observes, looking around at the multitude of women, dancing and chatting and hooking up around them.

"You think?"

"Are you kidding, that sweaty testosterone smell? Gross."

Holly's brow furrows. "I'm fairly sure testosterone doesn't smell."

"Only fairly sure?"

The furrow deepens. "Ninety percent sure. Ninety five. I don't like this."

"Being drunk?"

"Not remembering things."

"Feels strange being one of the mortal folk, huh?" Gail teases.

"I don't know, is this how mortal folk feel?"

"I wouldn't know, I'm invincible." Gail deadpans.

Holly just smiles into her drink, and they continue to survey the room in a comfortable silence. That is, until Gail notices that the other woman has made little progress in finishing her drink, and decides to pull out one of her favourite college-era moves, slamming her own bottle down on top of Holly's, shocking the brunette and causing her drink to bubble up over the spout of the bottle in her hands. Holly shrieks in shock as the liquid runs over her fingers.

"Drink it!" Gail shouts through her howls of laughter, as more foam pours out of the bottle.

Holly jumps out of her shock and brings the bottle to her mouth, catching most of the froth that has not yet spilled out of its container- which is to say, not much. When the bubbling has subsided she places the now nearly empty bottle down on the counter and scowls at her date, who raises her arms in mock defeat.

"You were drinking it too slowly." Gail offers as way of explanation

"You're like a frat boy." Holly says, shaking some of the foam off her hands.

"Frat boys always got the hottest chicks." Gail reasons.

"I'm going to wash my hands." Holly grumbles, but Gail can see the amusement lurking beneath her faux annoyance. "Don't pull any sorority girls whilst I'm away."

"I'll try, but I warned you, lesbians love me."

Holly shoots her most Gail-refined glare over her shoulder as she walks away and the blonde returns to leaning against the bar.

"I think the DJ's changed. Come on." Holly says when she returns, not waiting for a response before she drags Gail back to the dancefloor.

On the way, Gail notices that the music has indeed changed from the endless stream of badly mixed hits to a less jolting mix of RnB tracks, and is initially slightly relieved until she recognises the tone of music. This is the music people procreate to. The music which gets people dry humping on dancefloors. Gail does not dance to this music. Well she does, but not in the way anyone she has ever dated has wanted her to. She enjoys continuing her wildly inappropriate erratic writhing whilst everyone else decides to ramp up their gyrating and touching to levels that would be considered indecent in any other setting.

When they get to the dancefloor, Gail becomes immediately thankful as she realises Holly is not one for the forward, body-melding tandem dance moves either. Instead she dances solo, waving an arm in the air as her hips sway out of sync with the music.

Unfortunately, the vast increase in volume of people on the dancefloor now the calibre of DJ has improved forces them to dance only just apart from each other. Gail tries desperately to maintain a gap between them, terrified that she will end up forced into grinding with Holly in a way that will only end up revealing how truly lacking in sex appeal and co-ordination she is in these settings in which everyone suddenly seems to give off the impression of being backing dancers in provocative music videos.

That plan, however, is put to a stop when Gail spies another woman making her approach to Holly behind the brunette's back. All it takes is one dark hand to come to rest on the pathologist's hip, and all fear is chased from Gail's mind to be replaced by an overwhelming possessiveness.

She sweeps in, wrapping an arm around Holly's waist and attempting to match the movements of her hips with the other woman's. And failing, by and large.

She honestly intended on letting go once the would-be suitor had got the message and left, which she did, pretty quickly, but Holly's hands have fallen to her hips, and Gail decides that backing away would be an even more awkward move than staying together.

It does not look sexy, even as Gail eventually turns so her ass is backing into Holly's front and the brunette's breasts can be felt on her back. Gail doesn't know if this is down to their mutual lack of co-ordination, Holly's slight over intoxication, the bodies around them fighting for space and occasionally engaging with unattractive, desperate, open-mouthed kisses with one another, but Gail strongly suspects all three are strong contributors.

But that doesn't completely stop it feeling good. Surprisingly good. Up close Gail can still smell Holly's subtle perfume along with the salty, sweaty aroma that dancing has conjured up. When she turns to look at the woman behind her, she can see the beads of sweat running down her cheek, but they illuminate rather than detract from her appearance. Whilst their hips are far from moving in tandem with one another, the feel of Holly's body connecting with hers in those rare moments of synchronicity is setting her on fire. It shouldn't be, but it's almost working for her.

When Gail eventually spins around once more, she finds herself locking with those deep brunette eyes. Holly smiles back at her even as they stand on each other's feet for the tenth time in minutes.

Gail only closes the gap between them for the kiss when she can no longer bear the deep gaze. It is as messy as is to be expected from their dancing, all teeth and tongue, and a not entirely pleasant taste of spirits and beer is exchanged between the two of them. But that is certainly not enough to part them. There is something inside Gail which tells her that everything is completely right even though their movements suggested nothing of the sort.

Their parting, when it comes, is only due to a fumbling attempt by Holly at getting a light, subtle grope of the other woman's chest. Not that Gail doesn't appreciate the effort. There is a sensitivity that has built up over the past half hour that makes even the briefest, most poorly aimed stroke of a thumb over the peak of her breast most appreciated, even though the subtlety of the move been asking a little too much subtlety of Holly's intoxicated body.

But then they are both lost to a fit of giggles, and Gail decides that now would be the appropriate time to make their exit, before Holly attempts to get to third base right there on the dancefloor.

Once they have left the club, Holly with a large amount of encouragement from the blonde, Gail has barely the time to register the cool air on her face before hands are clasped on her cheeks and pulling her into a deep, lingering kiss. Gail acquiesces to the movement of the other woman's tongue against her own, pulling them together tightly for warmth. She becomes faintly aware of fingers trailing down her neck and over her coat-covered body. And then the fingers become frustrated by layers between them and their intended target, and head to the buttons Gail had only just clasped together. She feels the immediate cold as one button pops open and some air sneaks in through it, and swats away the hand instinctively.

"We need to get in a taxi."

"Mm, you're no fun."

"It's too cold for inappropriate outdoor groping." Gail whines.

"Wimp."

"Sensible." Gail points out. "If I caught hypothermia you'd have to look after me."

Holly scowls. "I'm the sensible one, amd I say we should carry on."

"You make a good argument." Gail smirks, directing the older woman towards a waiting taxi, catching her as she stumbles.

"I'm fine!" Holly protests as Gail attempts to help her into the vehicle.

Gail just grins as she slides in next to her. "I know you are, Lunchbox."


	10. Chapter 10

AN: warning- the content and quality of this chapter in no way make it worth the 26 month wait for it to be published.

I.

After a hard fought battle to extract the cash for the taxi from Holly's purse, and a stumbling journey up her front path in which the brunette only nearly falls over twice, they make it into her house. In relief at finding herself in a carpeted room once more, Gail kicks off her heels with such vigour that they fly a short distance and bounce back at her off the wall. She glances at Holly, who under normal circumstances she is sure would have given her a slightly reproachful look for her carelessness. Fortunately for her, Holly is preoccupied in her mission to extricate herself from her own shoes.

"Do you want a hand?" Gail asks after a few long moments watching the other woman's efforts, only conceding an offer of help after she overbalances and almost tumbles over.

Holly looks up, perplexed. "I don't know why they're so difficult."

Gail smirks, pulling up a bar stool and directing the pathologist into it. "Here, sit. And don't lean backwards."

She drops down on one knee and starts unfastening the tiny buckles, fumbling slightly, although nowhere nearly as badly as Holly had been, with the flimsy straps.

"Are you about to propose?" Holly grins.

"I've already agreed to marry someone once while I was drunk; I'm not making that mistake again." Gail observes, placing a kiss to the skin covering the other woman's metatarsal (Holly must be rubbing off on her if she's started identifying areas of the body by their bones, Gail remarks silently) as she slides the shoe off and moves to the other foot.

"Nick's an idiot." Holly observes.

"You don't need to tell me that." Gail responds, wryly.

"If we were in Vegas, I would definitely marry you."

Based on tonight's slightly clingy, drunken performance, Gail doesn't doubt her.

"No offense, Holly, but I'd rather not. I like to think I've grown at least a little bit as a person in the past 6 years." She sighs, leaning back onto her heels as she pulls off the second shoe. "So, do you want to go to bed?" She asks.

"I don't know, I think I'm too drunk, it probably wouldn't be very good." Holly replies earnestly.

Gail snorts. "I didn't mean to have sex. You absolutely are too drunk, and it really wouldn't do my ego any good if you passed out while I had my head between your legs. I meant do you want to go to sleep?"

Holly swallows visibly. "Your head…" She mumbles, then trails off, lost in thought. Or thoughts.

"So do you want to?" Gail asks again, ignoring the older woman's obvious lusting.

"I do now." Holly admits.

"No, do you want to go to sleep?"

Holly shakes out of her stupor. "I don't think so. I'm not tired. I'm actually kind of hungry." She looks behind her at the kitchen, staring intently at her cupboards, pulling herself up from the stool and walking over to the fridge, from which she pulls out a pot of yoghurt.

"Oh no." Gail objects, clambering across the kitchen to pull the yoghurt pot from the other woman's grasp and place it back in the fridge. "If we're going to drunkenly eat, we're going to do it properly."

Holly watches in the confusion as the other woman pulls her phone from her purse and starts typing ferociously for a minute or so before finishing whatever she was doing, and places it gently down on the kitchen island, a content look on her face.

"It'll be here in 30-40 minutes." She says to an increasingly lost Holly.

"What will?"

"Poutine." Gail replies simply, "It was that or shawarma but I really, really wanted cheese."

She looks at Holly, who is looking very conflicted about what has just happened. "But… a yoghurt would be healthier." She argues, weakly.

Gail smirks at the victory she knows that she has already had. "But not anywhere near as enticing?"

"Yeah." Holly mumbles. "Half an hour is quite a long time, though."

"Hm, that's true. I guess we could watch a film or…"

"I have some wine." Holly cuts in.

Gail's eyes light up at the suggestion. "Are you sure, I mean it is already two AM?"

"I'm not tired, and tomorrow's Sunday." Holly points out. "It's been years since I drank after I got home from a nightclub, but I kind of like the idea, unless you're feeling like a lightweight."

"I am not a lightweight, Holly." Gail scowls.

Holly dances past her, in a manner that Gail's addled mind considers to be somewhat more elegant than it actually is, to the fridge where she pulls out an unopened bottle of Sauvignon Blanc and waves it in the air, her eyebrows raised in a challenge as she stalks past the blonde into the living room. "Prove it." She shouts back over her shoulder

"Oh I will prove it, Holly." Gail assures her, grabbing two glasses from the cupboard and following the other woman to the couch onto which she had dropped. She places the glasses on the coffee table, and Holly immediately leans forwards to fill them almost to the brim, making Gail immediately regret her decision to pick two of the larger glasses from the cupboard.

"Go big or go home, huh?" Gail asks, eyeing the glasses warily.

"I am at home." Holly points out. "But if you don't think you can compete in the big leagues…" She tries to maintain a serious expression, but fails in all attempts to stop the giggles breaking out of her body.

"You are completely ridiculous."

Holly just grins widely, her eyes sparkling brightly, showing off her pure, uninhibited, carefree joy. A joy Gail is not so used to being around, but is finding herself increasingly addicted to nonetheless. An addiction that is prompting her to give in to the brunette's probably less-than-wise desire to prolong this innocent, almost child-like gleeful mania, rather than take the decision of a more rational person who would probably be sending them both to bed with a large glass of water right about now. But then, good, rational decisions haven't always exactly been Gail's forte anyway.

"Let's play… I have never?" Holly suggests, her smile not fading for a moment.

"You're a strange kind of thirty-three year old."

"Age is but a number, Gail."

Gail frowns. "You should maybe slow down on the wine."

"It's not how old you are, but how you are old."

"Are you using me for my youthfulness?" Gail asks, an only semi-serious accusatory tone behind her voice.

"Youth has no age."

Gail raises her eyebrows. "Are you finished?"

Holly scrunches up her face in thought. "I think so."

"Good. That conversation wasn't really going anywhere."

"Hmm." Holly muses, absently glazed over, and deep in thought. "I'm not using you, by the way."

"I know."

"I am enjoying acting like I'm 19 again, though."

"I gathered."

"But that doesn't mean you're my bimbo."

"Holly."

Holly looks the blonde directly in the eye and smiles. "Yeah?"

"Stop talking."

"Okay." That sweet, harmless, innocent smile sparkles in all her features.

"So do you want to start?" Gail asks.

"Start what?"

Gail sighs, but the cheerful expression on Holly's face, completely ignorant of her uncharacteristically poor concentration, prevents her from feeling any sort of frustration about it.

"I have never."

"Oh, yeah. I thought you didn't want to?"

Gail shrugs, noncommittal. "Well, usually I don't. But seeing as I've rejected almost every opportunity to play thus far in my life, I may as well. See what the fuss is about." She pauses, then grins wickedly. "Also, I want to find out all your dirty secrets."

Holly swats at her bicep. "I don't have any dirty secrets."

"I don't believe you."

"You're going to be disappointed."

It turns out if either of them have any dirty secrets, neither of them are able to guess what they may be. At least nothing that they have not already shared with each other. 'I have never' it turns out, is not a game best suited to being played between two people who are both best friends and lovers. Not if your aim is to discover new information about your partner, at any rate. The only new knowledge Gail can claim to have uncovered is of a recurring teenage Shania Twain sex dream, and the only new information Holly learns –although her ability to still remember it in the morning remains to be seen- regards Gail's father's discovery of the bulky pack of condoms she had attempted to take to college with her.

If the aim however, is to collapse into a drunken fit of laughter on the living room floor, then it may be considered more successful.

"I have never… tried to have sex in a police evidence room." Holly giggles, revelling, as they both have been for the past ten minutes, in their shared knowledge of their history of sexual adventures and indiscretions.

Gail reaches over –not very far, as they are both now lying on their backs next to each other on the soft rug on Holly's floor- to take the bottle of wine from Holly's hands, and brings it to her lips, the glasses they started drinking from long since finished and disposed with.

"I feel like this game is just a façade for our actual mission to just get completely wasted." Gail muses.

"Façade." Holly repeats. "That's a nice word."

Gail smiles and tilts her head to look at the woman next to her. Holly's hair is splayed out on the floor, her shirt has come untucked from her slacks, and another button has popped open. Even from the very limited viewing angle Gail currently has of her, however, she looks beautiful. Breathtaking.

"It's your turn to ask." Holly points out, after a few moments of silence.

"Yeah, I'm bored of the game." Gail offers by way of explanation. She holds the bottle up in the air and shakes it a little. "And we've finished the bottle."

"Mm, I think there's another one somewhere." Holly starts to lift herself up, but Gail reaches her arm across the other woman's chest, without anywhere near enough force or strength to actually hold the brunette down should she try very hard to get up, but the gesture is enough to cause Holly to forgo her mission and collapse back on the floor.

Returned to her position on her back, Holly too turns her head to the side to observe the woman lying next to her.

Gail licks her lips instinctively, as her eyes drop to Holly's mouth, giddy despite the many, many times she has now been in such close proximity to the brunette recently. She stretches her neck to place a soft kiss on Holly's lips, lingering longer than she intended to. She loses herself as she feels Holly's lips curl up into a smile against her own, and repositions herself onto her side so as to stop the straining her neck had previously been doing in the name of this kiss.

She runs a hand gently through Holly's wild hair as their kiss gets ever so slightly more forceful, before she feels a soft laugh escape from the woman now slightly under her.

Gail pulls back, frowning slightly. "What?!" She asks, disconcerted.

"Nothing." Holly tries to stifle her giggles, unsuccessfully.

"Seriously?" Gail's eyes dart around her, nervously.

"It's just… We're making out on my living room floor." Holly explains.

"Yeah…?"

"I'm making out with Gail Peck."

Gail narrows her eyes. "Yeah, for like the twentieth time, maybe."

"But it just hit me. Gail Peck is making out with me. On my living room floor. Gail Peck. I just… I thought you were straight a week ago, and now we're kissing. We've kissed a lot."

"Okaaaay." Gail draws out the word. "I still don't get why that's funny."

"It's silly… I have a crush on a straight girl, and she actually likes me back. And not just any straight girl; you, Gail Peck. Gail Peck, who is ridiculously hot, and funny and doesn't like people. I guess I'm in shock, a bit, and I just realised."

"Or you're drunk?" Gail suggests.

"Both maybe." Holly smiles. "But it's good. It's good shock, and good drunk."

"If you're sure."

"Absolutely sure. Can we go back to kissing, please?"

Gail rolls her eyes, but there is now hesitancy in her acquiescence to the request. "If you insist."

"I really, really do." Holly giggles. Gail deepens their kiss, leaning more of her weight upon Holly's torso as she does so, and the pathologists' giggles subside as she is increasingly distracted as the blonde above her alternately nips her lips with her teeth and soothes them with her tongue, and runs her hands up and down her sides beneath her shirt.

When, only a few, short, minutes later, the doorbell rings, the police officer suddenly leaps to her feet and bounds over to the front door excitedly, she leaves a slightly lost looking Holly lying on the floor. Gail has only just returned, two boxes of food firmly in her hands, by the time Holly has managed to pull herself up into a seated position.

"I'd forgotten about these." Holly observes as she pulls herself back up onto the couch.

"I hadn't." Gail hands one box to the brunette as she takes a seat next to her, flicking the television on to some inane late 90s comedy that buzzes along in the background as they eat.

"I can't believe you have me eating poutine." Holly leans her head against the other woman's shoulder.

Gail just smiles smugly, shuffling to make their position more comfortable.

"I also can't believe you even found a place that delivers to my house at three AM."

"I think it's later than three." Gail muses, unwilling, however, to find a way to check what the time may actually be. Her phone died long ago, and the nearest clock is in the kitchen. "And I'm not going to lie, this place has had a couple of dodgy health inspections, but if you will insist on not living downtown we'll have to make do."

"Coming from you who only moved out of your parents' home in suburbia a few months ago." Holly prods the other woman in the ribs.

Gail just grins and carries on eating, pretending to watch the movements on the television rather than making obvious her distraction by the brunette snuggled against her side.

"What are we watching?" Holly eventually asks, breaking their peaceful silence.

"I have no idea." Gail concedes. "I couldn't be bothered to channel hop. I doubt there's much on though."

"Hm. Tonight was fun."

Gail glances across to see the brunette's eyes fluttering shut.

"It was. Surprisingly fun, given I usually hate going out and dancing and all that crap. I've barely done it at all since I was 19."

"I wasn't much like this when I was 19." Holly says, not opening her eyes.

"No, I can't imagine you were." 19 year old Holly, or what Gail has heard about her, spent most of her weekends curled up with a book, desperately fighting off crushes on the various women in her life.

"I got cooler when I went to med school though."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah. That was when I met Lisa and Rachel and they started taking me out." She yawns. "You should meet them soon."

Gail considers the idea and decides for now it may be best to dismiss it. "Maybe, soon."

"Yeah." Holly sighs. "Your shoulder isn't very comfortable, I'm going to…" She trails off into nothing as she lower her head down into the blonde's lap.

"Are you going to finish your poutine?" Gail asks, looking from her almost empty carton to the brunette's half full one.

"You can have it." Holly mumbles.

Gail grins to herself as she reaches across to take the food from where Holly has left it precariously balanced next to her on the couch, and starts eating.

"Hey, Hol." She says a few minutes later through a mouthful of fries, aware that the other woman may be asleep on her leg by now and her words may fall on deaf ears.

"M'yeah."

"I was just thinking about the last time we were drunk at four AM." Gail muses.

Gail can feel Holly's face scrunch up in thought against her thigh. "When?"

"When I cut my hair off."

"Oh." Holly turns in Gail's lap to look up at her face. "Why?"

"I don't know, I was just thinking, that's all. That was at four AM, this is at four AM. I don't know, I just thought it was worth mentioning."

"You're very weird." Holly smiles sleepily.

"I know. But you like weird."

"I do." Holly concedes, just before she lets out a somewhat enormous yawn.

"You want to go to bed?" Gail asks.

Holly lets her eyes flutter closed again. "It's okay, this is comfy."

"Yeah, for you maybe, I haven't felt anything in my left leg for the past five minutes." Gail teases.

"Sorry." Holly murmurs, but doesn't process the other woman's words, nuzzling into the soft silk of her blouse.

"Holly." Gail nudges her shoulder. "Bed."

II.

When she wakes, the first thing Gail notices is that she is overwhelmingly hot.

Then she rolls over, and her pounding head and dry mouth too become apparent.

She sits up slowly and looks over at Holly, who is lying, face down, spread-eagled on the other side of the bed in only a tiny pair of shorts and tank top, and it becomes clear to Gail that the worst part of her situation right now is that she is completely incapable of appreciating the amount of skin on show whilst the impending need to throw up allows for little else at the forefront of her mind.

"Hollyyy." She groans, to no response

"Hollyyyyyy!" She repeats, slightly louder.

Holly stirs slightly and murmurs something into her pillow.

Whatever she says, Gail is unable to work out what it is. "What?"

Holly twists her head slightly, lifting her face out of the pillow. "What time is it?"

"Dunno." Gail mutters, unable and unwilling to find the answer to the question. "I think I'm gonna hurl."

Holly's eyes drift shut, then snap open, her body turning to join her face in facing the blonde in her bed. "Are you actually?"

"Dunno." Gail says as she sits up and swings her her legs off the edge of the bed, leaning forward, hands on her knees.

"Gail?"

"No, I think I'm good." She breaths heavily. "How are you?"

"I'm not sure. Hot. My head hurts. I need some water." Holly mumbles.

"Yep, me too."

Holly groans loudly. "Why did I open that bottle of wine?"

Gail smiles slightly into her hands. "I don't know but I had nothing to do with it."

Holly groans again, and Gail can feel the mattress shift as she rolls over behind her. "I'm getting a drink. You want?"

"Water or coffee?" Gail asks, not looking up.

Holly doesn't respond, her movements stilled on the other side of the bed.

"More wine?" Gail offers, lifting her head out of her hands and glancing over her shoulder at the woman behind her. Holly is lying on her front again, head buried in her arms, one eye visible glaring up at her. Gail grins, even though it hurts her head a little to do so.

Holly grumbles something indiscernible into her arms and Gail turns back around to hold her head in her hands, trying to ward off the nausea by staring at a bit of lint on the carpet in front of her.

Five minutes later, neither of them have moved. "Hols?" Gail whispers, not that a whisper is what she intended it to be, but apparently her vocal chords have given up on her.

"Mhm."

"Are you still getting drinks?"

"'n a minute."

Gail looks back at her again. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah I'm fine." Holly murmurs. "I'm fine." She repeats absently, although she hasn't moved or given any indication that what she is saying might be true.

"I'll get them." Gail pushes herself up from the bed, taking a moment to steady herself, and turning back to look at the brunette lying on the bed. Her eyes are closed and she is breathing deeply. She looks peaceful, if a little frazzled; her hair is messier than usual and the little makeup she was wearing the previous evening has smudged across her face.

In that moment she becomes aware of a tight, constricting feeling around her chest. She looks down and groans as she registers that she didn't think to take her bra off as she got into bed the previous night. Now she is aware of it, the discomfort it is causing across her back and ribcage increases tenfold, and she becomes desperate to rid herself of it.

Turning slightly, she pulls her t-shirt – or Holly's t-shirt, to be more accurate – off over her head and unclips her bra strap, hurling the offending item across the room with one hand as she rubs her back with the other.

She hears a strangled groan as she pulls the t-shirt back on, and glances up to see Holly looking up at her with her one visible eye, her cheeks slightly pinker than they were a minute earlier.

"You alright there?" Gail asks, unable to keep the grin from her face. Remarkably she doesn't really care what the other woman may have seen, a fact she puts down to the alcohol still present in her bloodstream. She's feeling considerably perkier than she was five minutes ago. Although her head is still pounding, the nausea has worn off and she's returned to a more reasonable temperature now she's kicked herself free of the bed covers.

Holly buries her face back into the cushion and groans, loudly.

Gail sniggers. "I know you could barely see anything without your glasses, perv, I'll be right back."

She pads out of the room, but as she walks down the stairs into Holly's well-lit main room, she immediately becomes aware that even though she is certainly in a better state than the forensic pathologist, she is far from feeling okay. She rubs her eyes with the back of her hand, attempting to block out some of the sun, before stalking over to the window and pulling down the blinds. It may be nearing midday, but there is absolutely no need for any room to be that bright.

With the sun blocked out, she feels slightly more human, and is able to pour two large glasses of water from Holly's fridge door water dispenser without too much difficulty, drinking her own before refilling it again. Carrying them upstairs is a slightly more challenging task given the slight tremor in her arms, but even that she manages with only a slight spillage on Holly's carpet, a spillage she chooses to ignore as she suspects that by the time Holly has managed to pull herself out of bed it will have dried up on its own. She nudges the bedroom door open with her foot, and is unsurprised to see that Holly hasn't moved an inch in her absence.

She places the glasses down on the bedside cabinet. "Holly." She murmurs, but the brunette doesn't move.

She touches Holly's shoulder. It is warmer than she expected, but Holly doesn't respond to the touch.

"Holly." She repeats, dropping to a crouched position and shaking her shoulder slightly.

Holly turns her head to look at her and her eyes flicker open.

Gail forgets about her headache for a moment as she looks at the woman in front of her. Even though her eyes are unfocused and only half open, and she is clearly drenched in sweat to the point that her hair is sticking to her face, she looks beautiful. A different kind of beautiful to her usual composed, cheerful beautiful. But enchanting, nonetheless.

"I brought water." Gail whispers, pushing hair back out of the other woman's face.

"Thanks."

"How're you doing?"

"Crap," Holly croaks. "Every time I open my eyes I feel worse, somehow."

Gail leans forward and places a soft kiss on her lips. "I'm going to shower."

"How do you not feel this horrible?" Holly mumbles.

"I don't feel great." Gail admits.

"Not fair." Holly whines, and Gail smiles.

"Drink that," she says, indicating to the glass of water as she pushes herself to her feet.

"Mhm." Holly nods, head falling back into her pillow as Gail saunters towards the en suite.

III.

To Gail's surprise, when she returns from the shower, wrapped only in a towel, Holly is not only still awake, but also slightly more upright than she was when Gail left her. She's also managed to pull on her glasses, and is staring vacantly at the wall. She looks over at Gail as she enters the room.

"Well that's not fair." Holly whines.

Gail's brow furrows, and she looks around, bewildered. "What isn't?"

"You're stood in my room in just a towel with your hair all cute and ruffled and my body hurts too much to even appreciate it."

Gail grins. "Well you've only got yourself to blame for that."

Holly scowls. Gail glances at the still full glass of water beside her. "You haven't drunk anything."

"It was too cold." Holly sighs. "It hurt my head. How are you?"

"Okay. Head hurts, and I can't really concentrate on anything for too long, but I'm okay. You?"

"I've been better." Holly concedes.

"Try the water again, it might have warmed up a bit." Gail suggests, perching on the end of the bed at Holly's feet.

Holly does as instructed, downing the entire glass. She places it back on the bedside cabinet, glances around the room, and leans over to the other side of the bed, grabbing Gail's own glass from the other cabinet, and lifting it to her lips.

"Hey!" Gail exclaims.

"What?" Holly lowers the glass.

"That's mine?"

Holly looks at her blankly, unblinking. Gail relents after only a few moments.

"Fine, drink it, but you'll get my germs."

"I've probably got all your germs by now." Holly points out, lifting the glass to her lips once again and downing the contents.

"Feel any better?"

"No, I think I drank those too quickly." Holly moans, slithering back down into a lying position.

Gail smirks, shuffling up the bed towards Holly's head so she can stroke her exposed shoulder.

"I'm sorry." Holly murmurs, looking up at her. She looks a sorry sight, Gail admits.

"What for?"

Holly half shrugs, as much as her position will allow. "This?"

"Don't be." Gail smiles. "I'd rather be spending the day with you, here, hungover, than with any anyone else, you know, not hungover."

Holly's eyes flutter shut.

"Do you want anything to eat?" Gail asks.

Holly gives an ever so slight shake of her head. "I think I need to sleep. You go ahead though."

"Do you want me to wake you up in a couple of hours?"

"No, yes, maybe. In two hours, maybe?"

"Okay." Gail smiles, and gets to her feet, but Holly grabs her hand on the way up.

"I am sorry."

Gail leans over and kisses her forehead. "Seriously, don't be. See you in a couple of hours."

IV.

After making herself a sandwich with some leftover chicken from Holly's fridge, Gail settles on the sofa, intending on watching an hour or so of television before going to wake the slumbering woman in the upstairs bedroom. Instead she drifts off, and finds herself being woken by the sound of feet padding down the stairs.

"Gail?" Her eyes flicker open and settle on the figure walking towards her, it is cleaner and less sweaty than when she last saw her. "I thought you were supposed to be waking me up?" The corner of Holly's mouth curls into a smile.

"I…" Gail fumbles over her words, attempting to work out where she is. Or why she is. "What?"

Holly grins. "Good afternoon. Why is it so dark down here?"

"The light was… hurting my head." Gail sits up. "How are you feeling?"

"Better, thank you for letting me sleep. How are you?"

"Better." Gail smiles as she watches Holly approach. When she arrives at the sofa she stands with her legs either side of Gail's, leaning her knees against the cushions and bouncing against them softly, but remaining on her feet. Gail looks up at her. "You're very tall." She observes.

"Mhm," Holly nods, biting her lip. "So… last night was fun."

"It was." Gail agrees, reaching up to play with Holly's fingers.

"I'm sorry I got so drunk."

"Don't be." She means it. "I had the best time." She focuses on Holly's fingers in her hands rather than upon her face.

"Really?"

"I did." She nods.

"Are you… staying over tonight?"

Gail looks up. "If that's alright with you?"

Holly beams. "It is absolutely alright with me."

They stay there, Gail absently playing with Holly's fingers while the brunette rocks on her heels, bouncing against the cushions, for a few moments.

"Are you hungry?" Gail asks.

"Not really. Are you?"

Gail shakes her head.

There are a few more moments of silence.

"So, do you want to just…?" Gail asks, as Holly says "You looked amazing…"

They laugh.

"You go." Holly says.

Gail shakes her head, "you."

"You looked… stunning last night. I can't stop thinking about how good you looked."

Gail's heart speeds up a little and she laughs, looking down at the baggie t-shirt and sweats she is currently wearing. "Look like crap now though." She says, brushing off the compliment.

Holly shrugs. "Nope."

"Nope?"

"Mhm." Holly nods again, her lips tight, but smiling. "I uh, had this dream just now. Except it wasn't a dream, it was more of a flashback."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. Of you, and me. On the dance floor. Then on my living room floor."

"Was it a good dream? Flashback, whatever." Gail asks, unable once again to lift her gaze from Holly's hands.

"It certainly had a few good points."

"A few?"

"More than a few."

Gail feels her cheeks redden, and draws the courage to start to look up at the other woman. "So, um, what specifically were the highlights of…?"

She feels the sofa sink either side of her, and looks up just in time to see Holly dropping onto her lap, knees either side of her, as her hands bury in her hair. Her question is cut off as Holly's lips meet hers, desperate and forceful. Gail's eyes fall shut and she clung onto the other woman's back as she falls back into the couch, and Holly follows her. As Gail's hands slip underneath the other woman's shirt, the brunette pulls back, barely leaving a millimeter between them.

"Don't stop." Gail whispers against her lips, and she feels the other woman smile against her.

"I don't think I could if I tried."


	11. Chapter 11

I.

Gail takes a moment to pull back and orientate herself. Her left hand is gripping Holly’s thigh, her thumb just shy of the hem of her cotton shorts. Her right has found purchase of the bare skin of the pathologist’s waist, underneath her t-shirt. Holly, still straddling her lap, has buried her own hands in her short hair, pushing her into the back of the couch as she kisses her. Their grip loosens as Gail pulls back, and she watches dark eyes open. Her lips, ever so slightly swollen, hang open a fraction of an inch, and her brow furrows. Before she can say anything, Gail lets her hands fall to the bottom of Holly’s t-shirt. She starts to lift it slowly, eyes not leaving Holly’s own as she starts to raise the bottom of her shirt.

Holly gives the smallest of nods, and drops her fingers to the hem of her shirt. She straightens up as she pulls the t-shirt over her head, combing her hands through her hair to straighten it after the shirt has dropped to the floor.

The view from where Gail is sitting is nothing short of magnificent. Looking back, she can’t help but wonder how it has taken her almost a week since they were in the shower together to get Holly shirtless again. Her skin is flawless, her breasts… she has seen various angles of Holly’s boobs in a million different outfits thanks to the brunette’s apparent dislike of the top 4 buttons of every shirt she owns and her penchant for low cut tops, but nothing could prepare her for the stunning visual that is Holly in just a bra and shorts.

Trembling, she raises her hand to Holly’s head, sinking her fingers into long brown locks and pulling her head back down to resume their kiss.

Holly cups her jaw and kisses her back. Long, deep, open mouthed kisses that leave Gail breathless and force her to pull back again to breathe. She runs her hand down Holly’s bare back and drops her gaze to her chest once more. The eyes of the woman on top of her follow. Gail watches as she drops an arm across her belly and digs her fingernails to her side. Gail furrows her brow.

“Are you okay?” She whispers.

Holly nods, and it doesn’t do anything to lessen Gail’s confusion.

“Do you feel sick?”

“No I’m…” Holly attempts to cut off her own explanation by leaning down to capture her lips once more.

Gail acquiesces for one lengthy kiss, as she places her hand on Holly’s forearm, and runs it towards her hand until their fingers have linked. As she pulls back from her lips, she eases the pathologist’s arm down and away from her stomach, glancing back down and noticing the small rolls that have appeared on the olive skin of the other woman’s belly as she has leant over to kiss her. She raises her other hand to cup her jaw, smiling as she places a tender kiss on the lips of the woman above her.

“You’re gorgeous.” She smiles against her lips.

“I’m not.”

Gail kisses her rather than argue back, guiding both their hands under her shirt to rest at the base of her ribcage. As their kisses intensify, she withdraws her hand from Holly’s, wrapping both her arms around Holly’s back, clinging onto her bare skin.

Whatever she is feeling right now, she isn’t sure she’s ever felt it before. She is incapable of anything but kissing Holly back and clinging desperately onto her. She feels like she’s falling, hurtling towards the ground at great speed, with nothing she can do to stop it, but a calm acceptance that somehow Holly will protect her landing if she just holds on.

She is completely breathless. Holly’s deep kisses are no longer enough. She feels the other woman’s hips start to roll in her lap, slowly grinding against her stomach. Instinct takes over and she drops a hand to Holly’s hips to encourage their movement.

Engulfed in the feeling, the pressure, of Holly bearing down on her, kissing her and cupping her cheek as she trails her other hand across the bare skin of her belly, is overwhelming. Her head falls back against the couch and Holly doesn’t waste a moment before dropping her lips to Gail’s neck. She moans, unable to open her eyes and process sight when all her other senses are being so mercilessly assaulted.

She tries to concentrate on just one of the many things that Holly is doing to her, settling on the movements of her hand across her stomach. Her fingers have been circling across her abdomen, her touch gentle but enough to make her skin tingle. They play their way up her ribcage, and Gail’s breathe hitches as they reach the soft, sensitive skin underneath her breast.

A lump emerges in her throat, and she feels blood rush to her head. She pushes a hand against Holly’s sternum, not forceful, but enough to stop her movements. Gail’s head falls forward, and Holly’s eyes, dark and lidded, meet her own. She swallows, Gail watches it ripple down her throat. She can feel the brunette’s heavy breath against her lips.

Holly mouth drifts open and shut, attempting to form the shape of a question but failing to do so.

Gail licks her lip, similarly struggling to find words. “Hold on.” She breathes.

Holly cocks her head and draws her lip in between her teeth. She runs her thumb over Gail’s cheek.

“Is everything okay?”

Gail licks her lips again. “I’m not wearing a bra.”

Holly’s eyes drop momentarily to her chest. “Yeah, I, um. I guessed that much.”

“Oh.” Gail breathes.

Holly leans back on her heels, pulling further back from the blonde. “We can slow down...”

“No, I…” Gail curses her own hesitancy, eyes dropping to the floor.

“I don’t want to do anything you’re not totally comfortable with.”

Gail looks over Holly’s shoulder, letting out a long breath before making eye contact again. “I do. I just needed a moment, I’m fine. I’m over it.”

Holly bites her lip. “Are you sure?”

Gail gives a small nod. “I’m sure.”

Holly doesn’t look sure. She rocks on her heels, lip still caught between her teeth. She looks so far away, in spite of the fact she is still straddling Gail’s lap.

“Holly,” Gail pleads, her voice barely above her whisper. Her heart is pounding, she has to blink a couple of times to keep her desperation off her face. She feels a stabbing in her belly, sickened that she let a moment of hesitancy stop them in their tracks. “Please don’t stop. Not yet.”

She grabs Holly’s hand, pulling it to rest over her heart. “Please.” She repeats.

Holly sinks into her, connecting their lips in a long but chaste kiss. “I promise that I don’t mind if you want to stop.” She breathes.

“I know.” Gail kisses her again. “I know, but I don’t want to stop.” _You might kill me if you stop._

Holly gives a slow nod, and leans back in to kiss her. The kisses start languid, both women cupping each other’s faces, but it takes only a few minutes for things to escalate once more.

When she feels Holly’s hips start to roll again, Gail smiles and returns her hand to her upper thighs to encourage her grinding.

Holly’s fingers, however, remain on Gail’s cheeks, holding her as her tongue probes deep into her mouth. She rarely feels as content or comfortable as she does when Holly cups her face like this. There is something so intimate, so comforting, about the way she holds her that usually makes Gail reach a rarely attained state of pacification. Unfortunately, it does little to help Gail’s desperate lusting, and she finds herself straining to feel Holly’s touch on some other part of her body.

Eventually, sensing that Holly probably won’t touch her again without prompting, she breaks their kiss and takes matters into her own hand, leading a hand to her chest, where she leaves it resting on her breast over her shirt.

She feels Holly smile against her lips, but she says nothing. Gail inhales deeply as she starts to knead her flesh through the thin fabric. Her nipple hardens almost immediately, and Holly increases the pressure with which her hand works at her breast. In response, Gail kisses her, her need to feel Holly everywhere overwhelming her.

It doesn’t take long for her to need more, however. And fortunately, nor for Holly, who drops her hand from her breast and splays it across her abdomen beneath her shirt.

Holly breaks their kiss but doesn’t pull back a millimetre. “Is this alright?” She breathes against Gail’s lips.

“Yes.” Gail responds, her voice hitching as Holly’s fingers creep higher. She captures Holly’s lips in another kiss as her fingers clasp around her breast. She moans into her mouth, and feels the vibrations reverberate against her own tongue.

Her nipple strains against Holly’s hand as she palms it, applying a gentle pressure. Gail is able to concentrate on little other than what Holly is doing with her hand as she switches from a generalised pressure with her palm to a soft stroking with her thumb around the whole breast, everywhere except over her now rock hard nipple. She waits, longs for her touch to reach where she is most sensitive, and when her thumb finally swipes over it, she shudders uncontrollably.

She drops the attention of her lips and tongue to Holly’s neck, working down to her collar as Holly massages her with increasing intensity. She kisses along her collar, and towards her cleavage, moaning into her skin as Holly pinches her and a million tiny explosions go off inside her.

Gail pulls Holly back into another searing kiss, aware that their seated position will soon become unsustainable if Holly continues to work her body like she is. Holly extricates her hand from Gail’s shirt to cup her cheek as she returns her kiss with an equal intensity.

“Fuck.” Gail whispers as they break for air.

Holly’s lip curls into a smile, and she kisses her again, her hands dropping to the hem of Gail’s t-shirt. “Can I?”

Gail’s breathe catches, and she can feel her heart in her ears. She avoids Holly’s eyes, suddenly nervous again.

“Can you… first?” She whispers.

Holly pulls back an inch or so and looks at her, her gaze moving slowly from one eye to the other. Gail takes the moment to properly take in the view of the woman on top of her. Her lips are slightly engorged, and have entered into a state where they default to hanging open slightly, giving her a dazed but contented look. Up close, Gail can see the line of her contact lenses around her irises, which themselves have been almost entirely engulfed by her pupils, making them a dark midnight colour Gail has never seen. Her cheeks are flushed and her hair, only recently washed, has volumised and matted where Gail has been running her hands through it.

“What do you mean?” Holly asks, apparently unable to gauge the meaning to Gail’s question in her expression.

“Can you… we… take off yours first? Before mine.” Gail elaborates, glancing at Holly’s bra.

Holly’s eyes drop down to her chest. “Oh.” She says, then she smiles. “Oh. Yes, we can do that.”

They sit, watching each other in silence, still no more than a couple of inches apart.

Gail’s heart is pounding, and the heat is rising in her neck and cheeks.

“Are you nervous?” Holly asks, but there is no accusation to her tone.

Gail’s heart races, her adoration of the woman in front of her fighting desperately against her panic at disclosing her fears, even at a time like this. “Are you?” She asks.

Holly bites her lip. “A little.”

Gail sighs, her terror abating slightly. “Me too.”

Holly smiles. “I’m going to kiss you.”

“Okay.” Gail smiles back.

“Then I’m going to take it off.”

“Okay.” Gail repeats.

“Okay.” Gail sees Holly’s lips curl as she leans in to kiss her again, and Gail welcomes her lips against her own. She opens them, letting Holly’s tongue give a languorous sweep of her mouth. Then she kisses her again, deeper, and longer. Her hands fall back to rest on either side of her face and Gail is consumed. Time slows down and to Gail every second feels like a thousand times longer, lasting for an eternity until she forgets what they are even doing. She barely feels the couch shift as Holly adjusts her balance on her knees, remembering what is about to happen only as her hands leave her cheeks. She breaks their kiss, but waits a moment before opening her eyes. Part of her revels in the lingering feel of Holly’s lips against hers, still present even though they are no longer touching. The other part, paralysed in terror at taking that next step, at the fulfilment of that which she has spent the best part of the last week anticipating, strangles her. She is unable to move, barely able to breathe. For the first time that day, she wishes that they had done this for the first time when she was drunk. When they were both drunk. When it wouldn’t be this real or perfect. Or fragile.

It is barely a moment of hesitation, but it makes a lump stick in her throat nonetheless. When her eyes flutter open, it takes a second for them to adjust. The world comes into focus slowly, but the passage of time is still much slower in Gail’s consciousness than in reality, and her vision sharpens as Holly’s hands drop to her lap. Her bra straps have slackened, but still sit on her collarbones.

Holly is watching her, lip caught between her teeth. The straps of her bra are slipping towards her shoulders tantalisingly slowly. That’s not just a matter of Gail’s perception, they actually are moving that slowly, she’s fairly certain of it. Gail leans forwards, lifting her hands to Holly’s shoulders, her fingers dancing on the skin beside the loose straps. She watches the brunette intently, waiting for an almost imperceptible quirk at the corner of her mouth before she hooks the pads of her fingertips around the straps and guides them over her shoulders. The garment flutters to the floor, but neither of them pay it any heed.

The position they are in, with Holly straddling Gail’s lap, combined with Holly’s extra inch or so on her in height, means that Holly’s chest would almost be in her direct eyeline if she were to look straight forward, but she continues to look up at the face of the other woman. Her breathing shallow, she is caught between a near irrepressible desire to look down, and a terror at the idea of actually doing it.

Her breathes are short and shallow. Something about that moment, about the processing of _seeing,_ or revealing, for the first time feels like a step larger than any they have taken so far. Stuck in that paralysed state, internally she almost laughs at the absurdity of not being able to do something which she so desperately desires to. From Holly’s shallow breathing, and her refusal to break their eye contact, it seems she is not alone this perplexing feeling. The intensity of Gail’s fear is as though she is nervous that she is going to look down and see two tiny bears’ heads sprouting out of Holly’s chest.

She lets out a haughty breath at the idea of it.

She wants to kiss her, to ignore this moment. If they sped things up, if they got caught up in the rush of oxytocin that is flooding their bodies, and didn’t take the time to relish in these moments, she knows things would be easier. But she knows it would be a disservice to them, or mostly to the magnificence of the woman in her lap, to do so. So she looks down, slowly, to her collarbone, to the mole on her right breast, and then further.

When her eyes reach their destination, and settle on the nipples in front of her, she lets out another low laugh. They are almost exactly as she had imagined they would be, _and boy had she imagined._ They’re nipples, they’re pinkish brown and the expected size and slightly erect. Yet they’re so much more. Somehow they transcend their composition of flesh and skin and glands. Gail has never felt so unable to look at anything else. Her breath catches and she feels slightly suddenly light headed, and she’s fairly certain she knows exactly where that blood has gone.

“Fuck,” She breathes. “You’re so…” She doesn’t know how to finish her sentence. Beautiful doesn’t do justice, breathtaking is true yet not enough. And any accurate compliment, if she was somehow able to find one, is far too dangerously close to revealing how enchanted she is by the sight before her.

She reaches towards them, but a sudden strike of panic makes her divert her route and find purchase on her stomach instead.

She looks back up at Holly, who recognises the cue and leans down to kiss her.

Gail closes her eyes, revelling in the kiss, but unable to fully concentrate upon it as she slowly runs her hands up Holly’s torso, circling but making an unmistakeable path upwards.

When she first brushes the underside of a breast Holly stills above her. Fear flickers across her mind, but her trembling fingers continue in their path, as she pushes her tongue deeper into Holly’s mouth.

Her palm brushes over a nipple, and the moan that Holly releases is unforgettable. Cupping both breasts with her hands, she tries to replicate some of the movements that the pathologist had been doing to her through her shirt moments earlier. Working inwards, massaging from the outer breast towards the nipples, she lets her memories and her desires determine her course.

Holly’s head falls back, and she kisses her neck, working down to her collarbone, which she reaches as her fingers pinch the sensitive skin at their destination.

Holly’s writhing under her hands instils a new confidence in her, and she continues her path downwards, kissing long, open mouthed kisses against her chest. When the flesh under her mouth turns from her hard, bony ribcage to the swollen tissue of her breast, she glances upwards. Holly is looking down at her, and smiles.

Gail, encouraged by Holly’s dark eyes and the way she licks her lips as she smiles, continues in her path, her kisses becoming more concentrated as they continue on their path. She stops for a moment, mouth open against olive skin. Her open mouthed kisses are sloppy, she knows that, but she doesn’t care. She takes a breath, and sucks. Holly hisses, fingers tightening in her hair.

She continues, kissing then sucking, then ever so lightly grazing with her teeth, until she knows that the topography of the skin beneath her is about to change. She can feel it against her cheek. She pauses, she breaths, and then she kisses again. Her tongue wraps around the nipple, and Holly squirms. She sucks it into her mouth, and she squirms more. She beats it with her tongue, and she feels fingers digging into her shoulder blades.

She sucks and flickers and kisses and sucks again, until, needing more, she drops her hands to the bottom of her own t-shirt. Pulling back, she watches Holly’s glassy eyes follow her hands as they lift the t-shirt over her head.

Holly bites her lip, and smiles. Her skin has flushed, and her chest rises and falls with her heavy breathes. Gail struggles not to cross her arms across her own chest and hide from Holly’s gaze.

“You’re breathtaking.” The brunette whispers, leaning in to kiss her once again. Hands run up and down her sides, and Gail shivers. Fingers dance over her sensitive skin as she clings onto Holly’s back. Holly grazes her nipple as she reaches up to cup her cheeks once more, then her hands can no longer be felt anywhere on her body.

One hand resting on the back of the couch, Holly guides Gail sideways, down onto the cushions of the couch so that she is laying rather than seated. Gail is immediately grateful, the effort of staying sat upright having become far more difficult than usual when her senses and nerves were being assaulted as they were. Barely breaking their kiss as she does it, Holly repositions herself to straddle one of Gail’s thighs.

They kiss, and their hands roam across the newly exposed expanse of skin, occasionally joined by their mouths in their explorations. As the intensity and need to their kisses increases once more, Holly again starts to rock against her, and Gail cries out, encouraging Holly’s dry humping with a hand on her hip.

She pushes up into Holly’s thrusts, but it isn’t enough, she needs more. She grasps onto Holly’s shoulder, nail’s digging in.

“Holly,” she gasps between kisses.

Holly slows, opening her eyes as she hovers just above Gail’s face.

Gail looks down between them. “I need… more.” She whispers.

Holly pulls back a fraction of an inch, and blinks, before giving a small nod. “Let’s go to my bedroom. It… it’s nice in there, more proper…” She mumbles.

Gail nods, not that she particularly cares where they are. The couch had been serving them perfectly well, and she’s not much of one for propriety when it comes to sex. But she appreciates the sentiment. “Okay.” She smiles.

Holly leans back down for a deep kiss, then falls back on her heels. She reaches behind her for their tops, pulling her own back on as she gets to her feet. She takes a moment to look down at Gail before passing her own t-shirt over. Gail feels her cheeks heat up under Holly’s gaze, but her heart pounds nonetheless.

Holly sits, watching her, for a moment. “I can’t quite put into words how I feel right now.” She murmurs. “This… you, are astounding.”

Gail glances away, unable to hold her gaze. She knows what she wants to say. She can’t believe that she got this far into her life without being in this position with a woman before. But she can’t quite bring herself to say it. “Me neither.” She whispers.

Holly smiles. “I’m going to get a glass of water, do you want anything?” She asks, as she pushes herself to her feet.

Gail shakes her head. “I’m okay, thank you.”

She pulls her own t-shirt back over her head.

“I uh… do you want to go, I’ll meet you up there?” Holly asks, as she pours herself a drink from the tap.

Gail fumbles for a moment, looking down at the ground. “Yeah, I’ll… see you in a sec.”

Holly smiles. One of those warm, affirmative, comforting smiles that she is so good at. “I’ll be up in a moment.”

Gail smiles, unsure of where to look, but she takes to the stairs nonetheless, heart pounding as she walks towards the moment that she knows will hang in both their memories for a good while.

II         

Gail is sat on the end of Holly’s bed, curled over her phone, as the other woman enters the room. When she registers her presence she scrambles to her feet. She licks her lips, unsure of how to proceed.

Holly lingers in the doorway, seemingly equally unsure. She is holding two glasses of water, and holds one out towards Gail. “I didn’t know if you wanted some?”

Gail nods, although not necessarily because she particularly desires it, but rather because it occurred to her to nod her head before it did to shake it. “Thank you.”

She steps forward and takes the glass. Upon raising it to her lips, she becomes aware that she needed it more than she realised, and relishing the feel of the cold liquid running down her still quite dry throat.

Holly smiles. “I don’t know about you but I don’t think my body still hasn’t quite recovered from last night.”

“Apparently mine neither.”

Holly laughs, and looks down at the ground. “Are you finished?” She gestures to the empty glass in her hands.

Gail nods, letting Holly take it from her hand, and watching as she places it next to her own on the drawers behind her.

Gail’s arms hang uselessly next to her, phone in one hand and the fingers of her other repeatedly stretching and contracting just so that they have something to do.

It is undeniably awkward.

“Can you put this with them?” She asks, holding her phone out.

Holly nods and does as asked.

If Gail thought that would have somehow made her feel less awkward – and on some level she admittedly had hoped it would – she was wrong.

Holly takes a step towards her, biting her lip, and Gail is overwhelmingly grateful that she made the first move. She raises a hand to push a strand of blonde hair behind her ear.

“I didn’t do a bad job of this huh?” She grins.

“Traci seemed to think so.” Gail replies, noncommittal.

Holly raises her eyebrows. “Just Traci?”

“I guess you did alright.” Gail concedes.

“I can’t believe you let me do it.” Holly continues to play with the hair.

“I normally wouldn’t. But I guess anything would have been better than the state it was in when you found me.”

“That’s probably true.” Holly nods. Cupping Gail’s face in her hand, she closes the distance between them to a couple of inches. “How are you feeling?”

“I…” Gail is stumped by the question. “I’m fine. I’m good.”

“Good.” The corners of Holly’s lips curl up into a smile that hasn’t quite reached her eyes by the time she has completely closed the distance to kiss Gail.

As Holly kisses her, Gail finds herself being slowly guided backwards, until the backs of her knees hit the mattress. She leans back and sits down, intending on bringing Holly with her, but the brunette breaks their kiss, remaining on her feet.

Gail bites her lip. “Are _you_ okay?” She asks.

Holly blinks. “Yeah, I… uh, I still have a bit of a headache, that’s all.”

“Oh.” Gail stutters. “Oh. Are you… were you…” She fumbles over her words, she wants to say something, to work out what is happening, but she can’t find the right question to ask. “A bad headache?” Is the question she eventually settles on.

“Not bad. I’m being silly, ignore me.” Holly shakes her head and leans in for another kiss before Gail can stop her. She kisses her leisurely, the need and desperation that had overcome them downstairs dampened back down again by their short break.

Holly starts to climb onto the mattress to straddle her lap, and Gail shuffles back to give her the room. Their kisses grow deeper, and Holly clings on to her, fingers in her hair and thumbs running over her jaw over and over. However, even as she started to loose herself once more, Gail finds herself unable to completely fall into the abyss with the woman on top of her, and she pulls back.

She leans back on her elbows, sucking both her lips into her mouth and pursing when is left of them for a moment before speaking. “Did you have a headache downstairs?” She asks. “Like, were you uncomfortable?”

Holly straightens up slightly. “No… I was fine downstairs. I couldn’t have been better. It was stopping, and getting a drink… I realised how dry my mouth was and then the headache started up again.” She bites her lip for a few seconds before continuing. “It’s to be expected, given how much we drank last night. And um… oxytocin and endorphins are very effective painkillers so it’s not too much of a surprise that I was feeling fine, given… what we were doing tends to lead to the release of a pretty abundant amount of those particular hormones.”

Holly’s eyes dart from her hands to Gail’s face as she speaks, and it doesn’t take a genius to work out she’s nervous. Gail can’t help but smirk at her anxious nerdy rambling, though.

“So… it seems to me like we should be aiming to get those hormone levels back up again then, yes?” Gail says slowly. Her heart is pounding in her chest, and she’s sure if her hands weren’t firmly holding onto the comforter below them they would be shaking violently.

Holly lets her head fall forwards in a slow nod. “Yes… that would work.”

“Okay, good.” She pushes herself up to meet Holly for another kiss.

The pathologist reciprocates for a second, maybe two, before pulling back again. She clambers back up onto her feet, pulling Gail with her. Bewildered, the police officer doesn’t offer any resistance and lets herself be tugged back to a standing position.

Holly scuttles around to the side of the bed. It hasn’t been remade since they slept in it for once, but Holly sets about trying to correct that, tugging the comforter towards her.

“Here, let me help.” Gail says, wiping her sweating palms on her shirt before she grabs the other side of the comforter and straightens it out.

“Maybe we should change the sheets, we must have sweat all over them last night, I was boiling when I woke up.”

Gail licks her lips, before getting up onto the mattress and crawling towards the other woman. She plants a gentle kiss on her lips when she reaches her. “It’s fine, they’re only going to get sweaty again.”

Holly kisses her back. “I want it to look good. For you.” She murmurs against her lips as they part again.

“It looks fine, it doesn’t matter.”

“Are you sure?”

“I’m sure.” Gail whispers, pulling Holly towards her until she clambers back onto her lap once more. They continue to kiss, Gail raising a shaking hand to hold onto Holly’s shoulder as their kisses deepen once more.

“What’s wrong?” Holly asks.

“I was going to ask you the same thing.”

Holly breathes heavily. “I’m sorry I just… I think I ruined it.”

“Ruined what?”

“This.” Holly sighs. “I shouldn’t have stopped and got that glass of water. I was really into it and I ruined it.”

Gail has to look away from Holly’s face so that she doesn’t become overcome by inappropriate laughter at the woman’s earnestness. “Holly.” She says, when she has relaxed her face muscles enough to look back at the woman straddling her. “You can’t apologise for needing a drink, you’re severely dehydrated… and…” She trails off, looking away to hide her grin once more.

“What?” Holly asks, eyebrows furrowed.

Gail bites her lip and smiles, shaking her head. “I can’t…”

“Can’t what?”

“I can’t say it, you’ll judge me.”

Holly’s eyes narrow and her shoulders sink. “Tell me, I’m nervous enough as it is without worrying about this as well.”

Gail purses her lips for a second, considering her options.

“Gail.” Holly whines. Or at least, she comes as close to whining as Gail as ever heard Holly come.

“Fine, but don’t judge me. I was going to say…” She feels the blood rush to her cheeks and she takes a moment to let them cool. “I was going to say that with where we were going, you having plenty of moisture available in your body was in both our interests.”

There’s a moment of silence as Holly interprets her words, then, “Gail!” she shrieks, leaning forwards to swat at her shoulder.

Gail grins, and grabs the other woman’s wrist as she swipes, pulling her arms out from underneath her so she collapses forwards towards her. Holding onto both her wrists, and wrapping her legs around Holly’s waist, she flips them, revelling in Holly’s continued squealing. She releases her arms, and leans back onto her heals, grinning down at the brunette, smug at the reversal of their previous positions.

“Who knew you were so dirty?” Holly asks as her laughter subsides.

Gail flashes a wicked grin. “Cheered you up though, didn’t it?”

Holly’s face falls, and she pushes herself up onto her elbows. “Gail…” She says, her voice soft and velvety. “You don’t have to cheer me up, that’s not what I wanted… I’m just a bit annoyed at myself, that’s all.”

Gail shrugs. “And like I said, you shouldn’t be annoyed at yourself for wanting a drink.”

“It’s not just a drink though, is it?” Holly looks away. “If we’d carried on we would’ve, well, I would’ve had sex, happily, and I would’ve enjoyed it but now, I’ve psyched myself out by worrying about it not being perfect, and I… don’t think… I know, that I can’t...”

Gail sights, and her chest feels noticeably lighter. A small twinge of disappointment is easily matched by an unexpected wave of relief.

As much as she wants to go all the way with Holly, as much is she was ready for it… her heart has spent the past hour beating out of its chest and she is barely able to hold her body from shaking at the prospect. Never has she spent so long building up to having sex, and never has it had such a devastating effect on her nerves. All the build up and the slow kisses and the time spent taking in every moment and every new expanse of skin they reveal to each other… they have made each moment as close to perfect as she knows how to get but the suspense has become overwhelming. She can barely contain her excitement but nor can she contain the terror.

“Holly, if you don’t feel up to having sex you shouldn’t be annoyed at yourself.” She whispers.

“I’m sorry. I want it to be perfect for you, and I don’t feel perfect. I tried, and I nearly made it but…”

Gail leans down to kiss her, gently, chastely, on the lips. “I don’t mind, Holly. You aren’t the only one who’s slightly freaking out about this. I’m glad you said something and stopped it. I’d hate to think you were just doing it because you thought I wanted to.”

“It’s not just today… it’s the whole weekend. I know we didn’t say it but, I thought… last night, we would… and then I drank too much and we couldn’t, and now I’m too hungover and I’ve psyched myself out of it… and now I’ve ruined the whole weekend…” She trailed off.

Gail’s brow furrows, trying to wrap her mind around what has just been said. “Holly if you don’t feel up to sex that doesn’t mean you’ve ruined the weekend.”

Holly looks up at her, a red mark starting to form on her lip where she keeps chewing on it.

“For one thing,” Gail continues. “It was me who was too drunk to do anything on Friday night, so you can hardly feel bad about the whole weekend. And for another, I really don’t mind. I’ve had a great weekend, regardless of whether we’ve boned or not.”

Holly cringes, but the corner of her lips curl to hint at a smile. “You’re just saying that.”

Gail shakes her head. “I don’t do that whole lying to appease people’s ego thing. It’s not my style.”

Holly’s eyebrows rise and fall. “I suppose that’s true.”

“And it’s not like we didn’t do anything. Today was pretty fun.”

“Yeah?” Holly smiles.

Gail shrugs, smirking, but inside her heart is thudding once more. She slides off of Holly and falls with a surprising thud to the mattress next to her. “I get why my high school boyfriends always wanted to stick their hands up my shirt now.”

“Well, you do have an excellent pair of breasts.”

“Look who’s talking.” Gail snorts, but when Holly turns to look at her, she feels her cheeks turn pink. “Just saying, not many people get to touch such a good pair of boobs the very first time they go to second base with a woman. I must have some pretty good game.”

“Well, it was you who was saying that lesbians love you last night.”

“True.” Gail sighs. “They really do.” She looks up at the ceiling. “Hey, you must be starving, do you want to get some food?”

Holly hums. “I probably should. I don’t fancy cooking though, do you want to get some takeout?”

“Three times in one weekend, that’s a bit extravagant?” Gail teases.

“Are you complaining?”

“Mm, no, not particularly.” Gail watches Holly push herself to her feet and collect her phone from the night stand.

“What do you fancy?”

“I’m not fussed.”

“Hmm,” Holly hums as she scrolls through her phone. “Oh, I don’t know, you choose?” She says, throwing her phone at the blonde on her bed.

Gail scowls, and picks up the device. She browses in silence for a few minutes, evaluating their options.

“Are you coming over tomorrow night?” Holly asks.

“I’m on nights this week, remember?” Gail replies, not looking up.

“Oh, yes. Of course.”

“I can come over on Friday, if you’re not busy?”

“Nope, Friday works.”

Gail looks up at her and smiles.

“I won’t freak out on Friday, I promise.”

 _I can’t promise I won’t,_ Gail snarks to herself. “I won’t mind if you do.”

“Okay. But I won’t.” Holly smiles, biting her lip as she does so. “I won’t be hungover and gunky feeling either. I could cook something for dinner, get some nice wine, candles you know… set the mood.”

“Sounds perfect.” Gail smiles. _And terrifying._ “But you don’t have to.”

“I want to.” Holly grins.

“Okay… well, it’s a date then.”

“Perfect.” Holly leans down to kiss her. “I can’t wait.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter goes out to all fans of boobs and boob touches alike.
> 
> +5 points to you if you can identify the line which was heavily inspired by/blatantly ripped off from my favourite Arrested Development joke. (no seriously, tell me if you spot it, I would be thrilled) 
> 
> Apologies for the overuse of the word 'breast'. I couldn't bring myself to write 'bosom' and boobs and tits just don't quite set the right mood.


End file.
